Cold Comfort Served by Serena

How often does the comforter turn into the conqueror?

Every Serena Williams-Venus Williams Grand Slam final -- there have been six -- has been different, and this one was no exception. Call it surreal, or even a bit unreal, but role reversal took on an entirely new meaning after Serena defeated Venus, 4-6, 6-4, 6-2, in Saturday’s Wimbledon women’s final.

On Thursday, Serena gave her sister love and support when an injured Venus appeared unnerved during a rain delay in her semifinal against Kim Clijsters. Then on Saturday she sent Venus into a world of hurt, running her from side to side, hitting a couple of lobs designed to produce an awkward movement and simply wearing down her older sister’s psyche.

Once the 2-hour 3-minute match ended with Venus hitting a forehand return long, the sisters were reunited. Serena went to sit next to Venus, and Venus made sure the requisite photos were taken during the victory ceremony, handing her own camera to a surprised All England Club member on the court.

Everything seemed so familiar. But it was anything but.

The specter of Indian Wells 2001 surfaced. Venus, who had aggravated a strained abdominal muscle during the match against Clijsters, revealed in her news conference Saturday that she had to “take one for the team” by playing injured -- something she didn’t do at Indian Wells in ’01. The sisters were hit by severe criticism from some quarters after Venus withdrew because of an injured knee about five minutes before a scheduled semifinal against Serena.

“First, there’s always the ‘what if?’ in the back of your head,” said Venus, who had her left leg and hip taped. “And second, it’s just hard these days. Serena and I have taken a lot of [flak], so I felt I had to take one for the team. It hasn’t been easy. Serena and I, we’ve been blamed for a lot of things that never even happened. I felt I had to play today.

“I think everyone’s quite familiar with the history. So today was a good effort. And I wanted to play. I had to at least show up and go out on the court. So that definitely was a decision on my own.”

Said Serena, who looked almost somber after match point: “In a way it is too bad. I just hope she hasn’t injured herself more due to that fact. But I don’t know, it’s just really taking one for the team. She really took one for the team, and not only in thought. I didn’t know it was that serious. I knew it was serious, but ... [she] nearly beat me.”

Nearly overlooked in the analysis of sister psychology was that this Wimbledon final was one of their best matches in terms of pure shot-making. Despite her injury, Venus repeatedly forced Serena into errors by running down shots, quickly took a 3-0 lead and won the first set. But Venus said her injury started to spread, almost like a virus, and it showed the most in her serve, because she lacked the usual explosion in her legs.

“It was just a domino effect,” Venus said. “Once I started not using certain parts of my body, the other parts started to go down. So I started injuring other areas. And I couldn’t run too fast. I couldn’t stretch out too much. I was hitting serves in the net because it’s harder to reach up. So it just affects the whole game.”

She double-faulted eight times, four times in the third set, and her only ace came 1 hour 16 minutes into the match, in the seventh game of the second set. Serena had six aces and four double faults in the match, and only one unforced error in the third set.

Venus’ declining physical condition turned the third set into a foregone conclusion, particularly when she left the court for a seven-minute injury timeout after being broken.

In the end, she looked almost like a wounded butterfly in her elegant white dress, still moving but destined not to go far.

“It was the thing I dreaded happening the most at this tournament, and it was something that I knew could happen because I wasn’t 100%,” said Venus, who has lost to Serena six consecutive times, five times in Slams.

Serena can even beat Venus when not at her best, as evidenced by the Australian Open final in January, when Serena was slightly out of shape and hobbled by blisters but still won in three sets. But it apparently doesn’t go the other way.

Venus laughed and said, “Whoa!” when asked what it was like to play a match she was almost certain she could not win.

“I look in the sky and hope to see an angel,” she said. “I just knew I had to give it a shot. I couldn’t look back 10 years from now and say, ‘What if?’ ”

Family members did not want Venus to play but did not pressure her to pull out of the tournament. Even Serena said she didn’t believe Venus would continue after the rain delay in the Clijsters match.

It’s become common to expect the unexpected from the sisters. Even Serena, the aspiring actress, admitted that no script has come her way that would match their story.

“Uh, no,” she said. “There’s still a lot more drama to come. That’s why you can’t write it out now, you have to wait.”

If not for the French Open, Serena would be heading to the U.S. Open attempting to complete a calendar-year Grand Slam. Justine Henin-Hardenne ended that intriguing possibility in the semifinals at Paris, and Serena made it clear she has not forgotten.

“I should have won the French,” she said, smiling.

Still, her story is moving toward history, not inch by inch but almost in fast-forward mode. And if it’s somewhat unsettling to her opponents, the speed is surprising even to the champion.

This was the first time Serena successfully defended a Grand Slam title, picking up her sixth Slam singles championship, moving past Martina Hingis’ five and approaching Evonne Goolagong Cawley’s seven and Monica Seles’ nine. One more Wimbledon title and she’ll match Chris Evert’s total of three.

“I’d never thought about that,” Serena said. “I’ve always wanted to play tennis to leave a mark and I think I’ll be able to leave a mark with what I’ve done in my career already -- and I’m only 21, yeah. So sometimes I forget how old I am. Hopefully, there’s a few Slams, several Slams, left in me.”

*

Todd Woodbridge of Australia won a record-tying eighth men’s doubles title at Wimbledon, as he and Jonas Bjorkman of Sweden beat Mahesh Bhupathi of India and Max Mirnyi of Belarus, 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (4), 6-3. His accomplishment matched the record set by the Doherty brothers, Hugh and Reggie, between 1897 and 1905.

“Feel good? I’m astonished to think I could ever even get close to that,” Woodbridge said. “It’s beyond belief to think at the beginning of my career I could do anything like that. I have no words to say. I can’t believe I could have achieved that.”

*

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

Efficient in Finals

Though she has a long way to go to reach the top of the list of Grand Slam championships, Serena Williams is among the leaders in percentage of finals won, among women appearing in six or more finals:

*--* Player W L Pct Maureen Connolly 9 0 1.000 Suzanne Lenglen 8 0 1.000 Helen Wills Moody 19 3 864 Serena Williams 6 1 857 Margaret Smith Court 24 5 828

*--*

*

Box Score

*--* Serena Williams (1) def. Venus Williams (4), 4-6, 6-4, 6-2

*--*

*--* Serena Venus 1st Serve Percentage 59 49 Aces 6 1 Double Faults 4 8 Unforced Errors 30 25 1st Serve Winning Pct 72 73 2nd Serve Winning Pct 34 34 Winners (including service) 31 19 Break Points 6-13 4-11 Net Points 10-13 10-15 Total Points Won 99 93 Time of Match...2:03

*--*