IT is 16 years since Venus Williams raised the Wimbledon ladies’ trophy aloft for the first time.
Since then, either she or her sister Serena has won the coveted Rosewater Dish a further ten times.
And yesterday the Americans served up the remarkable prospect of making it a round dozen of Wimbledon singles titles between them – with a fifth clash between them in the final – as each won through to this year’s semi-finals.
Their continued dominance at SW19 comes despite their relatively advancing years – Venus is now 36 and Serena 34 – compared to plenty of younger opponents.
The Williams sisters are the two oldest women in the top 16 Wimbledon seeds, among whom the average age is 27. The youngest is Swiss player Belinda Bencic, 19, who retired from the tournament with an injury and only three others are in their 30s.
Venus’s quarter final win made her the third oldest woman ever to reach the Wimbledon semi-finals and the oldest Grand Slam semi-finalist for 22 years. Billie Jean King was 39 in 1983 when she managed it, and Martina Navratilova was 37 in 1994.
Six-time champion Serena, the No 1 seed, and five-time winner Venus, the No 8 seed, have played against each four times in the final at SW19 – Serena won three clashes, in 2002, 2003 and 2009, and Venus won in 2008.
They both triumphed over younger opponents in their quarter final matches yesterday. Serena beat 25-year-old Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, the No 21 seed, and Venus beat unseeded Yaroslava Shvedova, 28, from Kazakhstan.
Asked about a potential meeting with her sister in the final, Serena said: ‘It will be great. Venus is such a tough opponent. I want her to win so bad – not in the final if I am there, but if I’m not, I do.’
Venus, who last reached the semi-finals in 2009, said: ‘We don’t really talk about that because we’re focused on the next match. Even though we both won today, our opponents played really well. We have to get out there and play well to win.’
In tomorrow’s semis, Serena will play Russia’s Elena Vesnina, 29, and Venus will take on Germany’s Angelique Kerber, 28, from Germany. Asked about how tennis players seem to be retiring later, Venus said: ‘Once one or two players start playing longer, other players realize, “Oh, wow, I can too”. It’s an opportunity, because at that point you have the experience. You really can use that to be better. So it’s great tennis players are playing longer because that’s exactly when you should peak.’
The other over-30s in the top 16 were Roberta Vinci, 33, of Italy, Australia’s Samantha Stosur, 32, and Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova, 31.– Daily Mail