| Saturday, 5 July 2008 Written by Byron Vale Venus Williams says she and Serena often reminisce about their tennis careers. "We do sometimes talk about the things in the past, just some of the things that have happened have been so amazing and we definitely draw a lot of energy and inspiration from it," Venus said after her 7-5, 6-4 win over her sister.
One day when Venus and Serena sit down to discuss the 2008 Wimbledon final, Venus will tell her younger sister what it meant to her to be a five-time champion that day.
"[It] puts you in the stratosphere, just because of what this tournament means," Venus says. "I think had I had this achievement at any other tournament it would have been awesome but not nearly the same meaning at Wimbledon."
Venus will ask Serena if she remembers their breakfast on the day of the match, "just choking it down" and "encouraging each other".
Then they will talk about the windy conditions on Centre Court that day. "The wind kept blowing and swirling. The longer the match went on, it kept changing directions. At first, it was only windy on one side then it was windy on both. I could see the wind blowing on her side, but it wasn't windy on mine."
When talk turns to the match itself, the back-to-back champion will tell Serena that her serve aimed at the body was a key weapon in victory. "I never felt very happy about my ground strokes here. But my serve, I felt like any time I needed it, it was pulling me out of any bind."
In a moment of honesty, Venus may tell her sister that she thought she was not doing enough to stay competitive. "I felt like, I'm not running fast enough. I should be hitting more of an offensive shot. Why am I hitting this shot. You can do better. That's mostly what I'm thinking. The funny part is when I see the tape. I'm like, Wow, how did I do that? How did I cover that shot? So when I do see the film, then I do have to give myself a little credit. But when I'm out there I'm like, This is not good enough. It's funny."
She and her sister will discuss the power inherent in their games and the quality of some of the exchanges in the final. "I think the level of play was really high. I think a lot of the times one of us was overpowering the other. So I hit a hard ball on the line, she can't get it back. Or I tried to go for too much because I'm anticipating that she's gonna run my shot down. Or I hit a huge serve, she hits one I can't return. So in between us overpowering each other we had, I think, some really competitive rallies and intense points, you know, where one player would come back and take the point, when it looked like the other player was gonna win."
If it all gets too much for Serena, Venus will be magnanimous and point out that her sister is "the ultimate sportsperson" who had still won more Grand Slam titles and a better head-to-head record: "I wanted to try to improve that record and I didn't want the same trend to keep happening and then it be like 6-1 [Grand Slam finals in Serena’s favour].
"So I climbed a tiny little notch up, so it's 2-5. Still behind, but I’m working on it."
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Venus Victorious in Final
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