Sports

VENUS’ DAD: HENIN HAS NO CHANCE

Richard Williams, reverting to his old braggadacio ways, predicted his daughter Venus will beat Justine Henin in today’s semifinals and win the U.S. Open.

In a rambling interview, Papa Williams also defended his other daughter, Serena, claiming she should not have played the Open because of multiple injuries.

“I believe Venus can whip anyone here,” Papa Williams declared last night before Venus’ Flushing Meadows practice. “I don’t think no one here is going to beat Venus.”

The top-seeded Henin knocked out Serena in the quarterfinals after which Serena raised eyebrows during a surly press conference. Serena said her opponent won because Henin “hit a lot of lucky shots and I made a lot of errors.”

Yesterday, Papa Williams said Serena should have skipped the Open and said her “lucky” remark referred to the Belgian being fortunate that Serena was hurt.

According to Papa Williams, Serena was not only bothered by a healing left thumb but also played with an undisclosed hamstring pull and had left-knee swelling from a past operation. Serena flew back home to Florida because of her injuries and won’t be on hand for Venus’ possible coronation.

“Serena shouldn’t have played this tournament,” Papa Williams said. “She wasn’t in a position to play. She couldn’t bend her knees at all. Her thumb was hurting from being fractured. She played with a pulled hamstring that should’ve been wrapped like a mummy. Her doctors tried to get her not to play. I tried to get her not to play. She shouldn’t have been here. That’s why she felt Justine hit lucky shots because she couldn’t move.”

Papa Williams has been known to stretch the truth, but the man who created the Williams-sisters phenomenon did not want to give Henin any further motivation. No player has taken out both Williams sisters in a tournament since Martina Hingis pulled it off in the 2001 Australian Open.

“She wasn’t taking anything away from Justine,” Papa Williams insisted. “Justine is a great player. Not a good player. Serena was upset she just couldn’t perform like she normally can. If Serena is halfway well, nobody can beat her. She had three things hurting her like a maddog. If you understand the position, it’s luck.

“She couldn’t bend, couldn’t push down to get any leverage,” Papa Williams claimed. “[Justine] was lucky because Serena couldn’t move or do this or that.”

As luck would have it, the last time Venus faced Henin 4½ years ago, the Belgian had yet to win her a Grand Slam, so Venus’ 7-1 record against Henin is skewed.

“I think she’s definitely improved,” said Venus.

Henin didn’t want to add any fuel to Serena’s slam. “If she said that I’m lucky, then that’s what she said,” Henin told The Post. “I’m just glad I won.”

Venus, surviving a third-set tiebreaker vs. Jelena Jankovic, and Henin are both coming off great wins and are on great rolls. Today’s winner will be the overwhelming favorite to hoist the trophy tomorrow night. The other semifinal has two Russians, Svetlana Kuznetsova, the 2004 Open champion who has done little since, facing 20-year-old upstart Anna Chakvetadze.

“I start to trust myself much more than in the past because it hasn’t been luck for me,” Henin said. “It’s just I proved so many things.”

Venus, the reigning Wimbledon champion and lone American remaining in either draw, hasn’t won the Open since she strung together back-to-back titles in 2000 and 2001. Cat-quick at the baseline, getting to more balls than anyone, Venus is starving for another taste and to avenge Serena’s loss.

“I definitely have to try to win for Williams,” Venus admitted.

“I’m in the semifinals of the U.S. Open, baby,” Venus added. “It doesn’t get better than this except obviously the Final, then the win.”

marc.berman@nypost.com