Tomorow it is Roddick Vs the FedererFinals: Serena Williams (2) def Venus Williams (3) 7-6 6-2Semifinals: Andy Roddick (6) def Andy Murray (3) 6-4 4-6 7-6 7-6Semifinals: Roger Federer (2) def Tommy Haas (24) 7-6 7-5 6-3Serena Williams won her third Wimbledon title and first in six years by beating her older sister and defending champion Venus.Serena won 7-6 (7-3), 6-2, on Centre Court at the All England Club in London, preventing her sister from taking a third consecutive title. Only Steffi Graf and Martina Navratilova have managed to win three in a row since professionals were admitted in the Open era of tennis in 1968.“It feels so amazing,” Serena said to the spectators. “I feel like I shouldn’t be holding the trophy. It’s named ‘The Venus,” and she always wins.”It was the fourth time the American sisters met in a Wimbledon final. Serena has now beaten Venus in three finals. Today’s win also tipped their all-time head-to-head record in her favor, 11-10. It is the longest rivalry between sisters on the WTA Tour since 1971, according to the women’s circuit. Manuela and Katerina Maleeva of Bulgaria played each other nine times, with Manuela taking the series 8-1.“I feel like going into this final I have nothing to lose,” Serena had told reporters after she beat Elena Dementieva in the semifinals. “I feel like obviously she’s playing the best tennis at this tournament.”Serena now holds three of the four majors -- Wimbledon, the Australian Open and the U.S. Open. Russia’s Svetlana Kuznetsova won the French Open.Sibling RecordsThe only sisters to have both reached the No. 1 ranking on the WTA Tour, the Williamses have now won a total of 18 Grand Slam singles titles, starting with Serena at the 1999 U.S. Open.In the last decade, they have taken over the grass courts at the All England Club, winning eight championships in singles. They played a riveting final a year ago, with Venus winning her fifth Wimbledon title 7-5, 6-4. Serena previously won in 2002 and 2003.Venus Williams, with the two large strips of medical tape supporting her left knee that she’s worn since her second match of the tournament, won the toss and elected to serve. The sisters traded games until it was 4-3, when Venus got two break points. She lost both, and Serena won the game with an ace down the center.At 5-5, Serena got Venus to deuce on her serve, but couldn’t convert. It went to tiebreakers, with Serena taking it after losing one set point. It was the first time Venus had dropped a set in the tournament, and broke her win streak of 34 consecutive sets.Disappearing ServeIn the second set, Venus couldn’t get her service working, getting less than 50 percent of the first serves in. Still, they traded games until it was 3-2, when Venus double-faulted to go down 4-2.Serena won the next game without giving up a point to go up 5-2. She converted her fourth championship point when Venus dumped a backhand into the net. The sisters hugged at the net.“They probably are the best of their era,” Bud Collins, a broadcaster and tennis historian for more than 40 years, said in an interview at Wimbledon today.“They compare very well,” with nine-time champion Navratilova and seven-time winner Graf, Collins said.“I picked Venus to win the tournament when it started,” Collins said. “She’s got that wing span, she can get up to the net and cover a lot of territory.”Venus and Serena “can both can run like deer. They both have great hearts,” he said.Having the sisters compete at Wimbledon, where they also play in women’s doubles finals today, is important for the tournament.“They are the box-office stars,” Chris Gorringe, who retired as chief executive officer of the All England Club in 2005, said in an interview.Since the retirement of top-ranked Justine Henin in May 2008, five women have held the No. 1 position, two of them -- current leader Dinara Safina of Russia and Jelena Jankovic of Serbia -- without winning a major. The sisters stand out from the rest of the women’s field because of their mental strength, tennis commentator and former player Mary Carillo said.Dominant Women“Look at the great women’s champions, from Martina Navratilova to Chris Evert and Steffi Graf, they were all very strong mentally,” Carillo, a former French Open mixed doubles champion, said in an interview. “Serena, Venus and also Maria Sharapova are the same. When they step on a tennis court, they are saying to themselves, ‘What will it take for me to win the match?’ You don’t see that so much with the other women.”Serena, 27 and seeded second at Wimbledon this year, showed her mental strength in her 2 hour, 49 minute semifinal against Elena Dementieva of Russia.Faced with match point on her serve at 5-4 down in the third set, Williams rushed to the net to finish off the point. Instead of hitting down the sideline or using a lob, the Russian aimed the ball back cross-court at Williams, who met it with a backhand volley that touched the net and landed on Dementieva’s side for a winner.Serena won the match 6-7 (4-7), 7-5, 8-6, making her only the second player in the Open era at Wimbledon to come back from match point down on the way to the championship.Record After RecordThe only other player to do so since tennis turned professional in women’s singles was Venus Williams, who won the 2005 final against Lindsay Davenport after saving a match point in the third set.Serena’s fighting spirit always has been there, said Venus, who is two years older and was seeded third. She recalled a match her younger sister won over Davenport at White City in Sydney, Australia, in 1998, after trailing 1-6, 2-5.“That actually had a huge impression on my career, that one incident actually.” Venus told reporters after dropping just one game in her semifinal win over Safina. “We saved the article. It was called ‘White City’s Great Escape.’ Afterwards I would read it with an Australian accent. We’d read it over and over again, about how she overcame all the odds and won that match.”CriticismThe Williamses have been criticized by Navratilova, who watched today’s match from the royal box, and others for not playing a full schedule and spending too much time on other interests, such as interior design and acting. Serena spent almost an entire press conference last week talking about a script she was trying to write.Their longevity and success shows their strategy, and that of their coach and father, Richard, has been the right one.“Their formula is, trying to peak for the majors and play 15 to 18 tournaments a year,” Pam Shriver, a five-time Wimbledon doubles champion and now a tennis commentator who has known the Williamses for 15 years, said in an interview. “It’s not a bad idea. You can’t question it now they are both in their late 20s.”Playing each other in 2009 isn’t the same as when they did it for the first time at the 1998 Australian Open.“It’s different because we’re different players,” Venus said, when asked if it ever got any easier playing a sibling. “We both play such a similar game. We had the same teacher. But what I can tell you, the respect that we have for each other on and off the court is the same.”
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