Venus

 

Venus was at the Key Biscayne Tennis Center during the girl's 14 and under Jr.  Orange Bowl tournament.  So I spoke to her and asked her if she would take a picture with me.  Venus being Venus said yes.  She did not remember me, but I'm sure she remembered an incident that happened many years ago at Flamingo Park, former home of the Orange bowl Jr. 16s & 18s Tournaments.  Its where I first met her and Serena and her father.

HGK & Venus

School buses came that day from all over Dade county, full of kids to see the tennis stars. They jammed the parking lots and adjoining spaces.  The kids were now out of the buses and were all over the stadium.  Some were even in stadium seats, all of them waiting to see the new star of the tennis world, Venus.  Venus and sister Serena and daddy Williams were getting ready to hold an exhibition on Stadium Court.  This new tennis star, with her amazing athleticism was  winning tournament after tournament and with her effervescent personality she captured the media world.  She took over women's tennis and the sports world could not get enough of her.  And she handled it all, like . . . Venus.  How is that,  you ask? 
Well, the exhibition was getting started, Venus, with sister Serena and Dad on the clay court were warming up.  They had hit one or two balls when, as it can only do on Miami Beach, without warning, a downpour soaked everything.  I started helping shepherd the kids to the media building stairway. The stairs were in the rear and led to the second floor of the long media building.  At this time it was empty of the TV cameras which sent images around the world of  palm trees and the semis and the finals of the world's number one Jr. Tennis tournament, the Orange Bowl.  But at this moment it was just a very large room with a table or two against a wall and an odd chair or so.
After helping make sure there were no wandering stray kids I went up the stairs and I saw what my memory calls up now,. The kids were all sitting in a  huge crowd on the floor.  They surrounded Venus who was at the far end sitting on what I think was her tennis racket bag. There was a kid sitting on each side of her lap, snugly under each arm.  Everyone was singing.  On the floor behind Venus was a boom box with twin speakers blaring out a song, and Venus was leading, singing loudly with all the kids.  They all seemed to know the song.  I remember wishing I knew the song so I could join in.

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