Williams Sisters Make Tennis Boring

When the Williams sisters decide to try, they sure know how to make tennis boring.

I was as glad as anyone else when the sisters emerged as the next big thing on the WTA tour. I thought it was great that African American women succeeded at what has traditionally been a rich, white man's game.

They came, they saw, and they conquered, though, and for the last several years the Williams sisters haven't seemed to care much about the sport that made them rich and famous.

Instead of improving their tennis games, the Williams sisters turned their attention to off-court endeavors. To each her own, of course, but their half-hearted dedication to the game strikes me as odd.

Perhaps they have simply become bored.

What's upsetting to me -- and no doubt the players on the women's tour -- is that whenever they decide to try, the Williams sisters seem to be able to pull out a Grand Slam championship.

So when Venus Williams won her fourth Wimbledon title today, my reaction amounted to a shrug and a sigh.

A shrug because the result was hardly surprising, and a sigh because the sport continues to be at the mercy of a pair of sisters who rarely seem to care.