If there’s something to be learn about Serena and Venus Williams since they first joined the WTA tour, it’s never to count them out of any Grand Slam.

In the past many have counted them out of contention based on circumstances that seemed to be working against them heading into tournaments - and then they’ve gone on to prove all of us wrong.

So I’m not about to do that again with Venus at the French Open. When you take a look at Venus, who came into this Paris fortnight with only three clay-court match played, you would think she’s not going to make it. That would be the case for 95 per cent of players, but not the Williams sisters.

'She appears to be in a good mood and she has always been a huge fan of Paris'


Venus doesn’t much care about the surface she’s performing on for any given tournament. he looks ahead, sees a tennis court and says: 'I can win on it so let’s give it a try'. She’s got that kind of confidence. The eighth-seed American had to work hard in her first-round match on day two when she beat Israeli Tzipora Obziler 6-3, 4-6, 6-2.

Venus served poorly - eight double faults, five of which came in the final set due to the weather conditions. I thought it somewhat discouraging that she allowed Obziler - a 35-year-old player ranked 93, who is not nearly the quality of player Venus is - take the match to a third set.

There were, however, some encouraging things about Venus’ performance against the player from Israel. Most importantly she came to the net quite a few times. That is great for her since she has long arms and so why not use such a great wingspan towards winning points off volleys.

Looking at the big picture things could prove quite good for Venus the next couple of days in Paris. She appears to be in a good mood and she has always been a huge fan of Paris. She has come to this major with no pressure and that’s a good way to compete.

Venus and Serena never appear to feel much pressure at any tournament primarily because they have wonderful temperaments. But if Venus was to be feeling pressure at a major, it would be at Wimbledon later this year when she will be attempting to defend her title, something I believe she is very capable of doing.

When looking at her draw at Roland Garros it’s definitely fair to anticipate her reaching the quarter-finals, where if play holds to form she would come up against third-seeded Jelena Jankovic of Serbia.

If Venus gets past that match, she will likely be looking at either little sister, fifth-seeded Serena, or second-seeded Ana Ivanovic in the semi-finals.

While Venus might not be the favourite against either of those players in the semi-finals, there is no reason why she couldn’t beat either of them.

She should have a better history in Paris because she is way too good a player not to have made more than just one serious run at being the queen of this major.