Wimbledon Ladies Final: Venus Williams wins and goes into the stratosphere

By James Borg

Sunday, July 6, 2008 | 1:59 p.m.

LONDON - Ladies Finals day here on the second Saturday and the soothsayers who predicted a “family” final between - the Williams sisters – 28-year-old Venus and 26-year-old Serena - were proved right. With a shortage of American female players these days, this marked the first all- American final in a major tournament since Lindsay Davenport played Venus Williams here in 2005.

The record of the two women from Compton, Calif., here at Wimbledon is impressive. This is Venus's seventh Wimbledon Final in nine years and in the two Finals in 2002 and 2003, Serena was the victor.

At the beginning of Wimbledon 2008 nearly two weeks ago, there was talk of the price of strawberries and more importantly, the specter of match-fixing. The Russian player and defeated semi-finalist Elena Dementieva put an alternative spin on the issue when she said, a few days ago, that the result of the match would be "decided" by the Williams family as it was "a family decision". The sisters refused to talk about the allegations and concentrated on the excitement that they both felt at the prospect of playing each other again.

Venus had picked up her fourth title here last year and in the end it was the big sister who picked up the - aptly named - Venus Rosewater Dish for the fifth time as she swept her sister aside 7-5 6-4 in an hour and 51 minute match after a nervous and uninspiring beginning. This now leaves Venus with just one title less than her idol of yesteryear, Billie Jean King who as the Chairman's Special Guest for 2008, watched the match from the Royal Box (last year Jack Kramer of Las Vegas was the “Guest”).

Father and coach Richard Williams had left Wimbledon on Friday to go back to their Florida home and watch it on television. As Serena had said earlier: "He knew a Williams would win." Williams versus Williams is a difficult occasion for parents and as mother Oracene Price watched the match she showed little sign of emotion and never applauded during the whole of the match. The only movement was at the end as she pulled out her camera to take a picture during the presentation.

Having won the toss and elected to serve, Venus was broken in the beginning of the first set. When the first serve wasn't working, Serena was able to punish the ball. But Venus managed to avoid a break point which would have put Serena 4-1 up. Venus broke to 4-4 and still had to stave off two more break points to stay 5-4 ahead, by executing her trademark serves in the 120s. Venus kept up the momentum as Serena went walkabout and serving to stay in the set she hit a backhand into the net which gave her sister the set 7-5.

Venus then gave a signal that she meant business in the second set as in the first game she hit a record Wimbledon serve - 129 mph. This beats her previous record by 2 mph. A 16-minute game ensued and it ended with Serena clinching a break point that gave her a 2-1 lead - but then Venus broke back. But she ended up trying to stay in the match at 4-5 as sister Venus was in possession of two match points.

The audience were confused during this match. It was not a classic Final - and they didn't know who to support. But for the winner Venus, she now stands behind only Martina Navratilova (nine), Steffi Graf of Las Vegas (seven) and Billie Jean King (six). Afterward she said: " To be honest, winning this tournament so many times definitely puts you in the stratosphere. Had I had this achievement at any other tournament it would have been awesome, but not nearly the same meaning as Wimbledon."

James Borg, a freelance journalist, has covered the All-England Lawn Tennis Championships for 31 years. He spent a few months in Las Vegas and did work for Caesars Palace. He lives in London.