All-Williams Final
By Brobury Sports
Venus Williams is the -155 favorite against her sister Serena as America gets the Wimbledon final they’ve been waiting for.
Here’s a look at their previous matchups in Grand Slam finals with the winner and score in parentheses.
2001 US Open (Venus 6-2, 6-4)
2002 French Open (Serena 7-5, 6-3)
2002 Wimbledon (Serena 7-6, 6-3)
2002 US Open (Serena 6-4, 6-3)
2003 Australian Open (Serena 7-6, 3-6, 6-4)
2003 Wimbledon (Serena 4-6, 6-4, 6-2)
2008 Wimbledon (Venus 7-5, 6-4)
As you can see from the table above, Serena had her way against her sister in Grand Slam finals before last year’s Wimbledon.
At last year’s Wimbledon, Venus won in straight sets with each sister hitting big serves, powerful ground strokes and tracking down shots that others on the Tour just can’t do.
There has been some speculation in the media, and even by other Tour players, that the Grand Slam Finals winners are fixed by the Williams family, but that was thrown out the window when Serena won five of the first six.
The reality is that Venus turns up her play a few notches at Wimbledon, the place where she has won five of her seven majors (the other two at the US Open) and is the two-time defending champion.
Serena has won 10 major titles overall with only two in England, the others coming at the Australian (4), French (1) and US Open (3).
Venus Williams now the favorite
Serena was the favorite before the semifinals began, but the odds have been reversed with Venus now holding the top spot.
A lot of that has to do with Venus’ dominating 6-1, 6-0 win over Dinara Safina in Thursday’s semi, while Serena had to stave off a match point against Elena Dementieva before barely surviving 6-7, 7-5, 8-6.
Serena’s match lasted two hours and 49 minutes, the longest Wimbledon women's semifinal in the Open era. It remains to be seen if that will affect the outcome against a fresher Venus, who has played 39 less games in this tournament so far.
It could certainly be the difference come Saturday.