WIMBLEDON, England (AP)—Forget the wins, the losses, the struggles. Everything changes when Venus Williams steps onto the manicured lawns of the All England Club.
The 28-year-old American won her fifth Wimbledon singles title Saturday, showing once again that she seems able to unleash something special in herself at key moments during the grass-court Grand Slam tournament.
“When I get here I feel like it’s a different ball game, no matter what my results were, good or bad, in the beginning,” Williams said Sunday in an interview at the All England Club. “This is Wimbledon. No matter what, I’m going to play good here. That’s really how I felt about it.”
Williams entered the tournament with a 14-7 record in 2008 and not a single appearance in a final, but she excelled over the last two weeks, rolling through six matches in straight sets before coming up against younger sister Serena in the final. Despite a 1-5 record against her sibling in previous Grand Slam finals, Williams won her second straight Wimbledon title 7-5, 6-4 on Centre Court.
Her next challenge will be trying—again—to maintain that momentum heading into the U.S. Open.
“I definitely want to build on this and keep playing great,” Williams said. “That’s always the goal. Doesn’t always happen.”
She has won seven Grand Slam titles, the last three coming the past four years at Wimbledon. From 2001-03, it had looked as though she would win dozens, playing her sister in six major tournament finals but losing five of them.
The Williamses’ dominance on the circuit ended after the death of their older half-sister, Yetunde Price, in September 2003.
“There were times when I just felt very discouraged about some of my results, but ultimately the standard that I set for myself is extremely high,” Williams said. “The results that I didn’t like were great results for other players. I just had to put everything in perspective and come through those times.”
She certainly has come through at Wimbledon, and she wouldn’t trade a single Venus Rosewater dish for a title at either the Australian Open or French Open, two majors she has never won.
“People remember Wimbledon,” Williams said. “The French Open and the Australian, they’re unbelievable Slams, but they can get a little lost on the wayside. Wimbledon will never get lost.”
Nadal dethrones Federer in five-set Wimbledon epic
By STEPHEN WILSON, AP Sports Writer
WIMBLEDON, England (AP)—With darkness enveloping Centre Court and the clock showing 9:15 p.m., Rafael Nadal watched as Roger Federer’s errant forehand settled into the net, ending what might have been the greatest men’s final on the greatest stage in tennis.
With that, Nadal flopped onto his back on the worn-out lawn as champion of Wimbledon for the first time and conqueror of the five-time winner and grass-court master.
After five riveting sets and 4 hours, 48 minutes of play, there was a changing of the guard at Wimbledon on Sunday when Nadal held off Federer’s stirring comeback to win 6-4, 6-4, 6-7 (5), 6-7 (8), 9-7.
“It’s impossible to explain what I felt in that moment,” Nadal said after receiving the winner’s trophy from the Duke of Kent. “Just very, very happy to win this title. For me, (it) is a dream to play in this tournament. But to win, I never imagined something like this.”
Nadal, winner of four straight French Open championships, is no longer just the King of Clay.
He’s the first Spanish man to win at the All England Club since Manolo Santana in 1966 and, more significantly, the first player to sweep the French Open and Wimbledon men’s titles in the same year since Bjorn Borg in 1980.
Federer, who converted only one of 13 break points but saved two match points in the fourth set tiebreaker, fell short in his bid to set two landmarks: He failed to surpass Borg by winning a sixth consecutive title or equal Willie Renshaw’s record of six in a row from 1881-86.
Both Borg and Santana were in the Royal Box for the occasion, the longest singles final in Wimbledon history and one that many rated as an epic for the ages.
“This is the greatest match I’ve ever seen,” said John McEnroe, a three-time Wimbledon champion and a television commentator at the tournament.
Nadal, who snapped Federer’s Wimbledon winning streak at 40 matches and overall grass-court run at 65, climbed into the players’ guest box to embrace his entourage. He grabbed a Spanish flag and walked across the television commentators’ booth to the edge of the Royal Box to shake hands with Prince Felipe and Princess Letizia of Spain.
