May 3, 2004 Venus Again Takes Player of Week Honors WARSAW, Poland - For the second straight time, Venus Williams picks up honors as this week's WTATour.com Player of the Week. The 23-year-old American remains the hottest player in the game at the moment, following her 61 64 victory on Sunday against Svetlana Kuznetsova in the final of the J&S Cup in Warsaw. She won her second consecutive title at the event, which was preceded by her championship run in Charleston at the Family Circle Cup. On top of that, Williams added a pair of victories against Slovenia in Fed Cup play, giving her an 11-match win streak. Williams, who is now the owner of 31 career WTA Tour singles titles, has an 18-3 record on the year. "It has been a great tournament for me," Williams said. "It's very important for me to win here today at this stage of my career and so important to follow up my win at the Family Circle Cup. "I feel normal now. When I am not winning it's just abnormal for me. I tried not to be hard on myself with the matches I did not win at the start of the year." Her victory in Warsaw was special to Williams after coming very close to the title the previous year. Williams seemed poised to win the Warsaw title in 2003 before she was struck with a left abdominal muscle injury during the first set in the championship match against Amelie Mauresmo. She quickly dropped the second set and finally retired from the match at 3-0 in the third set. That same abdominal injury lingered on for the rest of the year, forcing Williams to miss the final five months of the 2003 season. Williams' victory elevated her two spots in this week's WTA Rankings. A solid week in Berlin could see Williams return to the top 10 for the first time since November 9. Prior to her departure last November, Williams had been a fixture in the top 10 for more than five years - comfortably holding a spot near the top of the women's rankings since March 30, 1998. --

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