Venus Williams Defeats Serena for Fifth Wimbledon Championship Title
Published by Aaress Lawless on Jul 5, 2008 | Print |
In what was a stunning display of high-quality tennis, Venus Williams has defeated her sister Serena in straight sets 7-5, 6-4 for the 2008 Wimbledon ladies’ singles title.
Venus had not beaten Serena in a Grand Slam singles final since their very first major championship at the 2001 US Open.
Venus, the elder of the Williams sisters, had to overcome a tentative start to win her fifth Championships at Wimbledon title. Serena raced to an early lead in the opening set, but could not deny her sister an opportunity to win her seventh career Grand Slam title.
“I can’t believe that it is five, but when you are in the final against Serena Williams five seems so far away from that first point,” said Venus during the trophy ceremony. “She played so awesome, it was really a task to beat her.”
This was the sixteenth career meeting between the two sisters, who are now tied 8-8 after Venus’ victory at Wimbledon.
Because she successfully defended her 2007 title, Venus is assured of holding onto the No. 7 spot on the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour rankings. Serena Williams will rise to No. 5.
Will.I.AM | Jul 5, 2008 | Reply
Congrats Venus!!! The way Serena started off was amazing! I thought Venus didn’t stand a chance. But Venus weathered the storm like a true champion. It’s a shame Venus’ ranking will not rise. It is truly ridiculous!
PaulaV | Jul 5, 2008 | Reply
That’s true…doesn’t make much sense that a Wimbledon champ wouldn’t rise in the rankings. It seemed like Venus was having more trouble with her serve (maybe the sun was too bright?), but you could definitely tell that this match was mentally challenging for both. I would imagine that it’s something like playing a match against yourself.
DIANE DIXON | Jul 5, 2008 | Reply
I WAS WONDERING THE SAME THING. WHY IS IT THAT VENUS HAVING NOW WON FIVE AT WIMBLEDON, SHE REMAINS IN THE SEVENTH RANK AND SERENA RISES TO FIFTH RANK? I REALIZE THAT I DON’T UNDERSTAND EVERYTHING ABOUT TENNIS SCORING, BUT THIS SEEMS TO DEFY COMMON SENSE.
SECONDLY, WHAT DOES DEUCE MEAN? NOT QUITE SURE. IF ANYONE KNOWS THE ANSWER TO THESE QUESTIONS, PLEASE RESPOND WITH AN ANSWER. THANK YOU. DIANE.
P.S. CONGRATULATIONS VENUS.
Nexty | Jul 5, 2008 | Reply
Well venus was the defending champ so theoretically she’s keeps the points she had won last year.
Serena reached the 1/4 last year so this year she gained more points and raised in the rankings
Venus could be even lose rankings. But this depends on the rest of the girls: whether they did better or worst than the previous year!
I hope i’m not mistaken!
jacob | Jul 5, 2008 | Reply
well deserved win for venus. congratulations vee!
Dapxin | Jul 5, 2008 | Reply
@ everyone wondering what and not about rankings…stop!
At the end of the day, they are mere statistics, lies, lies, lies - other than Justine, I couldnt imagine any of the girls 1-6 can threaten these 2 greats of the game.
I am gutted I coudnt see the whole game. Yet Again, congratulations is in order for Venus. True True Champ!
Aaress Lawless | Jul 5, 2008 | Reply
Nexty, you are correct. Venus did not advance up the rankings because she had to defend all her championship points from last season.
Serena moved up a spot because she reached the final and only needed to defend her points from last year’s quarterfinal.
Diane, the word “deuce” means the score 40-40 in a game. A player must win two consecutive points after a deuce to win the game.
If you still have questions about how the rankings work, you might want to visit this page from the Tour’s website here.
I hope this helped!
Will.I.AM | Jul 5, 2008 | Reply
I understand how the rankings work, but it isn’t fair. If you win major tournaments, your ranking should reflect that, regardless of what happened last year. This is off topic, but do the Olympic results have an effect on WTA rankings?
Aaress Lawless | Jul 5, 2008 | Reply
Will.I.AM, the Tour will award ranking points during the Olympics.
This article from last year might help a bit:
http://www.onthebaseline.com/2007/07/26/sony-ericsson-wta-tour-announces-agreement-with-itf-regarding-2008-olympics/
Suze | Jul 5, 2008 | Reply
Nice win for Venus! Plus, they also won the doubles as well. So, the seeding in the doubles -as the number 11 seeds was quite justified. A wonderful tournament all round for the Williams family.
The hard court season starts now. And so does the race for the number 1 year end ranking!
pov | Jul 6, 2008 | Reply
About rankings - it may not be a perfect system but it is definitely fair as all players are evaluated by the same system. To elaborate on deuce - the word itself means two, referring to the two points needed to win.
Nick | Jul 6, 2008 | Reply
Venus has played badly all year and she is defending champion at Wimbledon…you can’t play bad, defend your title, and jump up to number 2.
The ranking system rewards good results and tournament. I think it *****, but it’s the best ranking system.
Top players aren’t even bothered to show up now with this ranking. If you start awarding them points for every time they win Grand Slam then no one will show up at other tournaments.
Olivier | Jul 6, 2008 | Reply
How these two consistently maintain their domination of the sport (while multi-tasking in fashion etc.) for almost a decade still amazes me. They make it look so effortless that you forget how truly great they are, although the rankings rarely reflect this.
Also (to Diane) “deuce” comes from the Latin “deus” which means two, or implying two of the same…
pov | Jul 7, 2008 | Reply
I wouldn’t say that the WS are currently *dominating* the sport. Yes they “owned” Wimbledon this year but the WTA tour is more than just Wimbledon.
Rhonda | Jul 7, 2008 | Reply
curious, with the sisters competing, did the overall interest in wimbledon increase or decrease outside of the USA
MAIK NITZSCHKE | Jul 19, 2008 | Reply
I WAS ALSO WONDERING WHAT ACE, DEUCE & ALL THE OTHER CALLS MEAN. IT SEEMS SO COMPLICATED. AS AN ENGINEER, I SHOULD KNOW BASED UPON “COMMON SENSE”. VENUS & SERENA SEEMED TO BE STAYING ON THE SAME SCORE FOR QUITE SOME TIME AS DID THE MEN.
BOTH SISTERS DESERVE TO BE WINNERS.
WAY TO GO TO “THE WILLIAMS” SISTERS!!!!
pov | Jul 19, 2008 | Reply
Generally all-caps is considered the posting equivalent of shouting. OTB has a cool listing of tennis terminology.
http://www.onthebaseline.com/tennis-dictionary/