Venus puts little sister in the shade

LONDON – After nearly two hours of brutal powerhouse tennis on Centre Court on Saturday Serena Williams punched a backhand into the tramlines and older sister Venus had her fifth Wimbledon title in the bag.

The celebrations of 28-year-old Venus were muted. There was no jig of joy or girly giggles that had accompanied her victory here last year against French outsider Marion Bartoli but the contented smile said it all.After losing to 26-year-old Serena in their last five meetings in grand slam finals, including the disappointing 2002 and 2003 showdowns at Wimbledon, her 7-5 6-4 victory meant big sister had finally put little sister back in her place.A brief embrace at the net was as emotional as it got before Venus set off to parade the Venus Rosewater Dish around a sunlit arena.The sisterly words of comfort would have been saved for the privacy of the locker room.Serena at least had something to smile about later when she partnered Venus to the women’s doubles title for the third time.After the awkwardness of a few hours earlier, it was all high fives and smiles when they beat Samantha Stosur and Lisa Raymond 6-2 6-2, meaning Venus swept through the entire fortnight without dropping a set.”My first job is big sister, I take that very seriously,” Venus said on Centre Court following the singles watched by her mother and other sister but not father Richard who flew back to Florida after the semi-finals.”I was pretty excited about that win because it was so close,” Venus later told reporters.”I’m definitely more in tune with my sister’s feelings because one of us has to win and one of us has to lose.The celebration isn’t as exciting because my sister just lost.”Nampa-ReutersThere was no jig of joy or girly giggles that had accompanied her victory here last year against French outsider Marion Bartoli but the contented smile said it all.After losing to 26-year-old Serena in their last five meetings in grand slam finals, including the disappointing 2002 and 2003 showdowns at Wimbledon, her 7-5 6-4 victory meant big sister had finally put little sister back in her place.A brief embrace at the net was as emotional as it got before Venus set off to parade the Venus Rosewater Dish around a sunlit arena.The sisterly words of comfort would have been saved for the privacy of the locker room.Serena at least had something to smile about later when she partnered Venus to the women’s doubles title for the third time.After the awkwardness of a few hours earlier, it was all high fives and smiles when they beat Samantha Stosur and Lisa Raymond 6-2 6-2, meaning Venus swept through the entire fortnight without dropping a set.”My first job is big sister, I take that very seriously,” Venus said on Centre Court following the singles watched by her mother and other sister but not father Richard who flew back to Florida after the semi-finals.”I was pretty excited about that win because it was so close,” Venus later told reporters.”I’m definitely more in tune with my sister’s feelings because one of us has to win and one of us has to lose.The celebration isn’t as exciting because my sister just lost.”Nampa-Reuters