Tennis
SIDEBAR: Venus joy restrained in victory over little sister Serena
By DPA
Jul 5, 2008, 17:41 GMT

London - Venus Williams contained her joy at winning a fifth Wimbledon title on Saturday after achieving the feat at the expense of her younger sister Serena.

'Just five titles, it's the first thing that popped into my head,' said the only woman in the modern era along with Martina Navratilova, Steffi Graf and Billie Jean King to achieve this sort of All England Club domination.

'I was pretty excited about the win because it was so close,' said Venus. 'But I was definitely more in tune with my sister's feelings because one of us has to win and one of us has to lose.

'Of course the celebration isn't as exciting because my sister just lost.'

Serena struggled to contain her disappointment. 'I definitely don't feel numb, but I don't think I played well. I'm not satisfied with the way I played today. 'For me there's nothing to be satisfied about.'

While empathising with her sad sibling, the elder sister still felt the power of her moment on the lawns.

'You can never detract from winning a Wimbledon, but I'm definitely thinking about how my sister's feeling.'

Williams credited relaxation as the key to her success on the day as she lifted a third Wimbledon title in the last five years.

The winner converted on four of seven breakpoints; the loser on two of 13.

'I felt pretty relaxed out there today, when the match points came, I mean, I was a little tight, but that's normal,' said Venus. 'Because her serve is so good, I was hoping that I can get my racquet on it.

'You know if you get a chance that you have to do something with it.'

The Venus victory marked her first over Serena in three Wimbledon finals and her first after losing five in Grand Slam title matches to her sibling.

'The times I lost, I tried, she put a ton of pressure on me,' said the new trophy holder. 'Today I wanted to try to improve that record.

'I didn't want the same trend to keep happening. I'm still behind (3-6 in overall finals with her sister) but I'm working on it.

'This is the Wimbledon final, so of course I expected her to play that well - she's Serena Williams, she can pull out anything.

'I did expect her to just be all over anything I put out there.'