Wimbledon 2009: Serena Williams beats sister Venus in women’s singles final

'Are you looking at my titles?’ was the provocative slogan on the front of the T-shirt that Serena Williams was wearing at the All England Club, a couple of hours after the women’s final.

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Sibling rivalry: Serena Williams got the better for sister Venus in the final of the 2009 Wimbledon women's final on Centre Court Photo: REUTERS

Champion: Serena Williams beat her sister Venus in straight sets Photo: AFP

No one could ever accuse Serena of suddenly coming over all coy. And, yes, everyone at Wimbledon on Saturday couldn’t help but obsess over Serena’s 'titles’. If you’ve got it, flaunt it.

By beating her older sister Venus in an all-American, all-Williams final that was played on the Fourth of July, Serena won her third Venus Rosewater Dish and the 11th grand slam title of her career. So Serena now has three of the four grand slam titles in her possession, since she was also the champion at last season’s US Open and at this year’s Australian Open. But, as Serena doesn’t also hold the French Open trophy, you could say that the Californian doesn’t quite have a perfect set of 'titles’. Serena is the world No 2. Dinara Safina, a Russian, has never won a slam, and she’s the world No 1. Work that one out. Venus had been hoping to win Wimbledon for the third summer in succession, and for the sixth time in her career, and she is regarded as one of the all-time grass-court greats. But this time on Centre Court she wasn’t even the best grass-court player in her own family.

There can be little doubt over who is the extrovert of the two sisters. It wasn’t a T-shirt that you could ever imagine Venus wearing. “This T-shirt is available in stores, if you guys want to go get one,” said Serena, who had also worn the top when out jogging in Wimbledon Village during the fortnight. “Everyone can have one. I’ve been wearing it a little bit during the tournament. I thought last night when I was getting my stuff together, 'Well, if I win, I’ll wear the T-shirt because then I’ll have 11 titles and I wouldn’t know if everyone was looking at my titles or,” and she paused for effect, “at my Gatorade bottle’.” On the entertainment scale of one to classic, this final was about a three or a four, with Serena winning 7-6, 6-2. In fact there were moments during the final when some in the crowd appeared to have more interest in who was sitting in the Royal Box – Martina Navratilova’s guest was Sir Richard Branson, and Hollywood actor Ben Stiller was a few rows back – than in what was happening on the grass.

The sisters’ mother, Oracene, was there in the players’ guest-box, but their father, Richard, has learned from past experience just how tricky these occasions can be for him, and so, rather than watching his two daughters smashing balls at each other on the grass of Centre Court, he had flown home to cut his own lawn. The Williams girls are now 3-1 in Wimbledon finals, as Serena defeated Venus in the 2002 and 2003 title matches, and Venus beat Serena last year. All of Serena’s three Wimbledon titles have come from beating Venus in the final. Serena has won six of her eight slam finals against her older sister.

The power of Serena’s shots gave her the Dish.

When Venus lost the tie-break, it was the first set she had dropped on these grass courts since a third-round match at the 2006 tournament. Serena didn’t have a break-point chance in that opening set. Venus had a couple, and yet she couldn’t convert either. In the second set, Venus, who had been hoping to become the first woman to win three successive titles here since Steffi Graf in the early Nineties, has been wearing strapping around her left knee for most of the tournament, and her movement certainly appeared to be a little restricted.

In the second set, Venus didn’t hit the ball with as much pace as she had done in the first set, and she was broken twice, the second time for the match. On the fourth match point, Venus put a backhand into the net, and Serena dropped to her knees. “She was too good. She had an answer for everything,” said Venus, who, sportingly, didn’t want to make too much of “a fuss” about her knee.

So Serena’s most difficult contest of the Championships was in the semi-finals against Elena Dementieva, Russia’s Olympic champion, when she had to stave off a match point, and not in the final against her sister. Yesterday was all about Serena flaunting her 'titles’.