Wimbledon - Venus dreams of Navratilova's record

Eurosport - Sat, 05 Jul 19:30:00 2008

Champion Venus Williams was excited by the significance of winning her fifth Wimbledon title on Saturday and allowed herself to dream she might one day equal Martina Navratilova's record of nine.

2008 Wimbledon Venus Williams after beating sister Serena in final - 0

"Oh, my God, it's five. Wow...That was the first thing that popped into my head," she said of the moment she beat younger sister Serena in the Centre Court final for her seventh Grand Slam title.

"Winning this tournament so many times puts you in the stratosphere," Venus said after joining a select band of players, including Navratilova and Steffi Graf, who have won at least five titles at the All England Club.

"Had I had this achievement at any other tournament, it would have been awesome, but it's not really the same as winning at Wimbledon because of the prestige of this event," she said.

Asked about trying to emulate Navratilova, she said with a gasp: "That would be the ultimate. That's not easy.

"Also, her career spanned like three decades so I'm not sure I have that much time," said the 28-year-old, who won her previous titles in 2000, 2001, 2005 and last year.

But she added: "If I did I would definitely dream of that."

She said she would have been happy for twice champion Serena if the younger Williams had beaten her and won her third Wimbledon title on Saturday.

"I would have been more disappointed about the number. Last year I thought four was incredible but five is really monumental.

"I would have been more disappointed about not being able to make history than actually not winning the match."

Venus said it was exciting to win a match as close as Saturday's but the feeling was tempered by the knowledge that her sister had lost.

"I'm definitely more in tune with my sister's feelings because one of us has to win and one has to lose. Of course, the celebration isn't as exciting because my sister has just lost," she said.

"You could never detract from winning a Wimbledon, so of course it doesn't detract from that, but I'm definitely thinking about how my sister's feeling."

Eurosport

Comment 1 - 14 of 14

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  1. Jealousy, sheer jealousy.Venus and Serena worked hard to get where they are today. Those jealous,silly jerks claiming their parents always decide which of the sisters will win every match opposing both of them should remember the way to every final is long and filled with opponents which all want to win.The Hingis, Capriati, Henin,Davenport, Sharapova , Bartoli and others tried their best to stop the Wonder Sisters at Wimbledon, little success did they have.Give 'em credit for their fantastic achievements instead of trying to convince us how great a tennis champion is Andy Murray, that worm-face thrasher who can't hit the ball, while his age mates, Nadal and Djokovic are piling up crowns and titles. I believe Murray is just another over rated no-good ball hitter Brit ( Henman opened the path).Too sad! As for that Robson,though I don't believe she's the new jewel of the tennis crown ( she's not the junior n°1), I wish her well and wil look forward to seeing her playing in the big arena of the ladies game.

    From , on Mon 7 Jul 10:29AM

  2. Roughelement, Do you play tennis? Remember dreams can and do become reality...

    From , on Mon 7 Jul 1:43AM

  3. Paul, Is it so hard to be happy for the Williams sisters? They have worked hard to reach where they are. Your comment in the second part of your mail was downright tasteless. Yes the young lady in question did a marvelous job and no one can take that away from her, but when you start talking about "high class girls singles". I wonder if someone else had represented GB in this match whether this comment would be made. Tennis has nothing to do with "class" as it comes across in your mail. There are young ladies in England and other countries who have worked very hard just to be in these matches.

    From , on Mon 7 Jul 1:40AM

  4. Brithis Press can blow things out of it's original form and can also hype. DID ENGLAND PLAY IN THE EURO 2008? I DON'T THINK SO WHAT ABOUT TURKEY? ...................................................... LOL

    From , on Sun 6 Jul 7:24PM

  5. Martina Navratilova is the best woman tennis player of all time !!

    From , on Sun 6 Jul 12:38PM

  6. Who is Laura Robson? we are talking about legends of tennis and somebody is mentioning some no names to stroke their British pride.

    And please who is Laura?

    From , on Sun 6 Jul 11:49AM

  7. dream on venus... doesnt cost a pie to dream
    for you to reach navratilovas level of tennis and class is mission impossible
    however nothing wrong in dreaming
    now serena can dream of breaking sampras's record

    From , on Sun 6 Jul 9:38AM

  8. come on guys. the sisters themselves worry nothing about what had just happened because for sure they are happy they both showed that they they're both the players to beat especially at wimbledon. they really good and nothing can't be done about that but to be happy too for them. let's drink to that!

    From , on Sun 6 Jul 1:05AM

  9. Great match yes you are right the Laura Robson one was!!

    From , on Sun 6 Jul 12:56AM

  10. This match was rubbish nothing like the Laura Robson match lets have less reporting of this fixed match and focus on a young up and coming British/Australian talent.

    From , on Sun 6 Jul 12:54AM

  11. Great Match !

    From , on Sat 5 Jul 9:43PM

  12. p2douglas, you are forgetting Serena DID NOT play Venus in the semi final. and yes the tennis was fantastic. you comparing the juniors to this??? oh man, some of you guys blow my mind.

    that junior girl, should take martinas' advice. juniors' title is 'nothing' work from there and keep away from the papers, and determine your long term goals. knowing the british media, they going to haunt this youngster to hell, just like they did to Tim, doing to Andy, doing their other national teams-and they all fail

    From , on Sat 5 Jul 9:27PM

  13. This was not the GREAT match the commentators said it was.
    Serena went off the boil after she had dominated the first few games and there were only a few instances thereafter when she matched her sisters desire to win. Had Serena played like that in the semi-final she would not have made the Final.
    Nevertheless it had its moments but nothing compared to the Girl`s Final with Laura Robson winning for Great Britain(even if she was born in Melbourne) in a very interesting and often high class girls singles match. Laura has `class` written all over everything she does on court and like Andy Murray she has Grand Slam potential.
    I do not know what URLs and HTML are? Please enlighten.
    Paul Douglas. (Professional Coach)

    From , on Sat 5 Jul 8:26PM

  14. Well,Venus emerged the strongest.So be it though I would have loved Serena to carry it.Much had been said about the two sisters meeting.Some analysts were not at all happy with the prospects of these two meeting.But in the end,they emerged the best in this tournament and so they met.I hope Simon will just remain a reed.

    From , on Sat 5 Jul 7:49PM
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