She Had Ace Up Her Sleeve

Apparently, the ace by Serena Williams to win the first-set tiebreaker against her older sister Venus in the Wimbledon final Saturday should have been a let.

The net-cord beeper went off but the noise was drowned out by the crowd’s applause on Centre Court. Chair umpire Jane Harvey called a let, but the sisters went to their chairs for the changeover. Harvey was the same official who allowed Elena Dementieva to serve in consecutive games at the French Open.

Serena had no idea the serve was a let.

“No, no. Thank God, I didn’t,” she said. “That’s just my luck, an unbelievable serve to be called let.”

Much later, Martina Navratilova told her about the let when they were in the locker room. Serena was asked whether Venus knew.

“I’m not telling her,” Serena said, laughing.