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 | |  Saturday, 8 July, 2000, 16:42 GMT 17:42 UK Venus' name was on the trophy  Venus Williams climbs up to the balcony to celebrate with her family Venus Williams was always destined to win Wimbledon. In fact, it's fair to say her name was on the trophy. The Venus Rosewater Dish, the stirling silver salver presented to the women's champion since 1886, is now in the hands of the Williams family. And it was every bit a family occasion as Venus leaped around Centre Court in celebration of her first Grand Slam title. She fairly bounded up the grandstand steps before climbing - a la Pat Cash - across to the balcony where sister Serena and father Richard were sitting.
She quickly came back down to earth to receive the famous women's trophy that she had dreamed of since emerging as a child prodigy in Compton, California. "I have gone to bed dreaming I've won a Grand Slam all my life, but when I wake up I realise it was a nightmare," she said. "Now I have done it I don't have to wake up like that anymore." Her comments to a packed Centre Court crowd were emotional and spontaneous and Williams could not help but admire the piece of silverware she hugged so tightly. Based on an original displayed in The Louvre, the copy now looked equally at home in Williams' arms. "It's better than the men's cup, in my opinion," she laughed, then admitted she was always confident of deposing reigning champion Lindsay Davenport. "I bought my gown for Sunday's ball before I came here because I was determined to get this. Hopefully I will be back next year doing the same thing," she admitted. Williams became the first black American women's champion at Wimbledon since Althea Gibson won her second singles title in 1958.
Her victory caps an incredible rise from learning to play tennis on courts peppered with broken glass and crack cocaine vials in the Compton ghetto where dad Richard set up home to toughen up his girls' attitude. The Wimbledon win came in only her second Grand Slam final after a shock run to the US Open final three years ago, but this was an awesome display of girl power as 6ft 1in Williams outgunned 6ft 2in Davenport in the tallest women's final Wimbledon has seen. The 6-3, 7-6 win also completed a remarkable comeback for Williams, who had stared retirement in the face as a teenager after suffering a mystery wrist injury at the start of the year.
No wonder she was so thrilled when Davenport fired a return into the net to seal Williams' historic win. "I can't hold back in life and I don't like to miss out on celebrations or a great laugh," added Williams, who will be laughing all the way to the bank after pocketing the winners' cheque for �430,000. | |
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