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| 06 Jul 2003 | |
| Day Twelve: Serena Wins Her Second |
There was hardly any emotion shown by Serena Williams when she
won her second Wimbledon championship, defeating her sister Venus for the
second consecutive year 46 64 62 in two hours and three minutes.
"Yeah I’m really satisfied. This is a great chance for me to show how I can
play and I love playing here at Wimbledon," said Serena. "I love being a
champion again. I love walking off the court and seeing my name up there
again."
But this was not an easy victory.
Serena and Venus have played a dozen times now and this result gives Serena
a 7-5 edge on her sister, but the final was difficult because she was
playing not just an injured opponent which is hard enough at the best of
times, but she was playing an injured sister.
If it was tough on Venus to have to carry two injuries, the strained
abdominal muscle as well as a problem with her left hip, into the final
spare a thought then for Serena as she tried to adjust her game and at the
same time compensate for the fact that it is her sister at the other end.
But the way Venus started one would never have thought there was the hint
of a problem. She was chasing down everything and she opened up a 30 lead
and had points for 40. Serena managed to compose herself enough to work her
way back in but by that stage the first set was done and dusted. Venus
continued to produce the goods early in the second set but Serena had
started to make major inroads as Venus’ game began to fade.
"Venus played really well in the first set and her groundstrokes were
really kicking. She was really putting me on the defence and I was making a
few too many errors," said Serena. "She was just running me back and forth
and blasting winners when she saw an opportunity."
Serena made it clear that she was not holding back and kept telling
herself that this is Wimbledon and "God knows if I would get this
opportunity again", so that made her fight harder. And she was repeating
that to herself again when Venus left the court early in the third set to
receive treatment from the trainer.
"She is tougher than I ever thought she was," said Serena. "I knew she was
tough, but she’s definitely on a different level. She’s definitely up there
as a real fight and a true champion."
Venus said the decision to play the final was entirely hers. She said that
she and her sister "have taken a lot of slack lately" so her she was
prepared to play so that no fingers could be pointed at the family,
suggesting the withdrawal was not on the level.
"Serena and I, we’ve been blamed for a lot of things that never happened
[and] I think everyone’s quite familiar with the history, so today was a
good effort, and I wanted to play," said Venus. "I had to at least show up
and go out on the court.
"It’s tough enough to go into the Wimbledon final because you know you have
to play your best tennis to win. It’s a little tougher not really being
sure how much you can do, how far I could go. That just sums it up."
She said if it wasn’t a Wimbledon final the chance of her playing would
have gone right down.
Asked if her sister had been 100%, would the result have been different,
Serena said: "I think the way I played today and the way Venus was playing,
I think definitely she would have been the Wimbledon champ this year.
Everyone can see throughout The Championships she was serving well, running
well, her groundstrokes were very solid. I would have had to pick up my
level, but I don’t know."
This title is her sixth Grand Slam crown which allows her to pass Martina
Hingis on the ladder.
The men’s doubles championship was won by fourth seeds Todd Woodbridge and
Jonas Bjorkman, 36 63 76(4) 63 over the top seeds Mahesh Bhupathi and Max
Mirnyi.
It was their second consecutive title for the Aussie/Swede combination, but
for Woodbridge it was his eighth Wimbledon doubles crown (he won six with
Mark Woodforde), and that allows him to equal a 98 year old record that was
previously held by Hugh and Reggie Doherty. This is also Woodbridge’s 76th
career doubles title which is two short of the record held by Tom Okker.
If you want to follow the action as it happens, with live scores and results, then please visit the Official Website at www.wimbledon.org.
The Junior Tournament is now almost complete. Please visit www.itfjuniors.com for daily wrap-ups and the latest pictures.
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