Five-time Wimbledon singles champion Venus Williams is not only one of the world’s greatest tennis players — she also plays a mean Bubble Bobble.
“You might not know it,” said Williams, at Electronic Arts in Burnaby yesterday, “but I am one of the world Bubble Bobble champs — with my double’s partner, Serena Williams, we are very good. We can beat the game.”
Williams joined NBA superstar Dwight Howard of the Orlando Magic, Milan Lucic of the Boston Bruins and Sacha Kljestan of the MLS franchise Chivas USA at Burnaby’s EA campus yesterday to preview four locally made EA sports games.
The athletes put on demonstrations (Williams gave serving tips, while Lucic gave pointers on dropping the gloves) and then competed in a four-sport King of the Court. Howard won by a single point.
Williams seemed hardly overwhelmed by her port-glass-sized plastic consolation trophy.
“Yeah, the trophy is going to go with the others,” Williams said. “It’s actually pretty comical, after a while I was standing there thinking, ‘What do I do with this thing?’ I’ve never held a trophy like this before.”
Howard, whose personality is larger than his six-foot, 11-inch frame, said he was happy with the win and also happy that the hockey part of the competition was a shot on goal (he scored) and not a scrap with the Vancouver-born Lucic.
“I wouldn’t fight him,” Howard said. “Even though I’m a big strong guy, he’s a hockey player. I’m pretty sure he can take a lot of punches to the head.”
