Serena Williams is chasing a pantheon of greats.
In perhaps her most impressive performance ever at Wimbledon, Serena bullied her older sister — five-time champion Venus — 7-6 (3), 6-2 to win her third title at the All England Club and further backed up the contention that she'll go down as the best player of the decade.
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In winning her 11th career major — still a long way behind the gaudy totals of some of the legends — Serena took it to a woman who hadn't been touched in her previous six matches, who had won 34 straight sets, who had intimidated and wiped the floor with every talented opponent.
But not Serena, who vowed after falling in last year's Wimbledon final to Venus to return to London a better and more consistent player, one who would coolly take care of service games, munch on second serves and dominate their back-court exchanges.
True to her word, that's exactly what she did, dropping only eight points on her service games, where she powered 12 aces to only two from her sister.
Now the 27-year-old is just one major title behind her former Fed Cup captain, Billie Jean King. She's won three out of the last four Grand Slams and is looking every bit as good as she did in 2002 and 2003, when she won five out of six majors.
"It's unbelievable," Serena said. "I just feel really good. I feel like now I'm just not even in a competition of how many I can win. Now I'm looking at the next goal of someone like Billie, who is completely my idol. To get to her level and have 12 would be even better."
Unlike Venus, who wiped out the fragile world No. 1 Dinara Safina in the semis, Serena had to put on one of her most clutch performances ever in her 6-7 (4), 7-5, 8-6 final-four takedown of Russian Elena Dementieva.
It was in that match that the world recognized once again what a courageous player she is.
"I usually go kamikaze when I'm down," Serena said. "So if I'm going to go out, I'm going out like a hero or something."
She said going into the final that it was one of the few times that she didn't expect to win, but she was still determined to match Venus big blow for big blow. When given the opportunity to strike first, it was Serena who delivered the most vicious uppercuts.
Venus had two opportunities to put her nose in front at 4-3 in the first set when she held her only two break points, but on the second one, when she got a decent look at a forehand crosscourt pass, she flew it long and then was thoroughly outplayed.
