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The graveyard of champions

LONDON: Are the Wimbledon organisers trying to tell the Williams sisters something?

It would sure look that way based on the scheduling of their next matches.

Venus and Serena Williams will play their fourth round matches back-to-back on Monday on Court 2 — nicknamed the ‘graveyard of champions’ for its history of upsets.

Not only that, the sisters are scheduled to play doubles on the same court the same day.

Between them, the sisters have won six of the last eight Wimbledon titles. Defending champion Venus is a four-time winner, and Serena is a two-time champion. They are in opposite halves of the draw and could meet in the final.

Both sisters have lost before on Court 2 — Serena was upset by Jill Craybas in the third round in 2005, while Venus went out to Jelena Jankovic in the same round in 2006.

Victims’ list

The list of Court 2 victims over the years includes Jimmy Connors, Pete Sampras, Lleyton Hewitt and Martina Hingis.

Serena has already played on Court 2 in the first week. She said she was uneasy because of the court’s history, but beat Polish teenager Urszula Radwanska in the second round.

Venus played all her first week matches on Centre Court and Court 1. Venus will be up first on Monday against the 18-year-old Russian Alisa Kleybanova, with Serena following against American Bethany Mattek. Later, they will team up in doubles against Anabel Medina Garrigues and Virginia Ruano Pascual.

The second Monday of Wimbledon is the busiest of the tournament with all fourth round men’s and women’s matches on the schedule — 16 in total. Three encounters each are scheduled on Centre Court and Court 1. — AP

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