Venus: 'Five titles, that's five titles, that's the first thing that popped into my head'

THEIR focus had been the safe progress of both of them to the final. After that it was every Williams for themselves, according to the sisters.

With a couple of breaks in the first set before Venus took the honours and then a mammoth seven break points contested before Serena broke in the third game of the second set, if there had been any pre-match plea bargaining round the dinner table, as the cynics suggested, then some convoluted planning went into the minutiae.

Beforehand, the innuendo had prompted an angry reaction from Venus who dismissed it as "offensive", adding: "I contribute my best in my sport, and I also have a ton of respect for myself and my family. So any mention of that is extremely disrespectful for who I am, what I stand for, and my family."

In the end the only person who hurt her family was her. There was no way around it. In proving that there was no carve up, both women gave it everything they had and one had to emerge victorious. In the end it was big sister who collected her fifth Wimbledon title.

Both women looked like they really wanted to win but, unusually perhaps, it was Venus – so often considered the flaky one – who seemed to have the greater desire. There will be no consolation in it for the younger sister but she is the one credited with imbuing her sibling with that quality.

"I have been working really hard and was fighting for everything," said Serena afterwards, by then all too aware that it hadn't been enough. "She lifted the level of her game and I should have lifted mine but instead, I think mine went down. She was a little bit better today and it didn't work out the way I had planned. I'm so glad that one of us was able to win the final, though, and Venus played great this year."

Venus' wobbly start, taking just one point in the first two games to give her sister the early break, did nothing to hint at the eventual outcome. "To be honest, this was a Wimbledon final so I expected her to play that well. She's Serena Williams, she can pull out anything but I just kept playing. It wasn't looking that great, you know, 3-1, 4-2 (in the first set] but then I got it even. When the match is that close it's obviously more exciting to win and at the end I was thinking 'Five titles, that's five titles', that's the first thing that popped into my head."

There may not have been a carve up but afterwards she said it was hard to celebrate when she knew her victory was hurting her sister.

"You know, I'm definitely more in tune with my sister's feelings because one of us has to win and one of us has to lose so of course the celebration isn't as exciting because my sister just lost. You could never detract from winning a Wimbledon but I'm definitely thinking about how my sister's feeling."

But as the tennis world has known for many years, if these Williams sisters are in the mood to win, very little stands in their way.