Williams targets 2012 London Games after securing fourth title

AT THE start of this year Venus and Serena Williams were being widely written off as semi-detached tennis players. "Part-time tourists" they were called, a reference not only to the fact that they pick and choose which tournaments they enter, but also to their supposed greater enthusiasm for other things.

Then Serena won the Australian Open, proving that, when minded to do so, she could hold her own against the best. Now Venus has won Wimbledon, showing in her 6-4, 6-1 victory over Marion Bartoli on Saturday that she too still has what it takes to keep on winning grand slams.

And worse followed that straight-sets success for those who hoped the sisters were losing interest in the sport. It looks like they will be around for a while yet - at least five years, according to Venus herself.

"I'd definitely love to play at least two more Olympics," she said. "I think I can do that for sure."

The second of those Games is in London, with the tennis tournament being held at Wimbledon, and the 27-year-old said the combination of location and event would make victory extra special. "That would be fantastic. I won gold before and it's a wonderful feeling. My dad always wanted us to play in the Olympics. I didn't realise what it meant. So I'd love to do it in 2012."

Venus now has six grand slam titles - four at Wimbledon and two at the US Open - but she is still behind her younger sister. Trying to catch Serena is one motivation, but she remained adamant that if there were an event she could not win, she would want the title to stay in the family.

"We obviously have the game, the mental and physical ability to do it [ie win more grand slams]," she went on. "She's a little bit ahead of me now, but I'll work on it. I'm her biggest fan. I couldn't play [in Australia] and all my hope was transferred to her.

"I was watching on TV. When she was winning I was elated, when she was losing I had to call the hot line - which is the other sisters.

"It was just unlucky here with Serena that a fall ruined her tournament. Hopefully this year maybe people will be like 'So, they're going to win'."

Although understandably pleased by what she and Serena have achieved, Venus declined to gloat when it was suggested to her that the Williams family return represented a nightmare scenario for the other leading players, who might have hoped for a spell in which the four Slam titles were shared around a bit more.

"We have respect for the other players. We know we have to be on top of our games to beat them. There's a mutual respect."

In fact, some players fear the American sisters because of their ferocious competitiveness and power rather than merely respecting them. But one positive sign to arise from this past fortnight for those who want more competition in the women's game is the rise of Bartoli - who, though well beaten on Saturday, showed she is fearless. Having been taught to play in a very attacking style, Bartoli is forearmed against the kind of tentativeness which can creep in during big matches.

She does her best to keep on the front foot throughout, and, although she was invariably beaten back by Williams, she won the crowd over with her fighting spirit.

Bartoli was actually seeded more highly than her opponent - No 18 as opposed to Williams's No 23 - but was always going to be the underdog. In her semi-final against the world No 1 Justine Henin, she had been able to trade blow for blow with the Belgian.

She was simply unable to do that against Williams, and there was never a hint of the second-set comeback with which she had stunned her last-four opponent.

"Venus played some unbelievable tennis," said Bartoli. "She reached some balls like I have never seen on a tennis court, and she would hit it even harder back to me. She served 120 miles per hour on first serve - sometimes it was hurting my wrist so bad because the ball was coming so fast. I really tried my best and I played a great match, but at the end she was just too good. I can't say a player can beat her when she plays like this on grass. It's not possible. She's just too good."

Bartoli has been a revelation this Wimbledon, and if the likeable Frenchwoman keeps up her current form she should be in the top ten before long. But she turns 23 in a few months, and is thus a very late developer for this level of the game. Her best hope of a Grand Slam may be to hang around until those two Olympics have been and gone, and Venus and Serena have finally hung up their rackets.