VENUS WILLIAMS'S first thought at the end of her seventh Wimbledon final was of "five titles, just five titles". The number matters, as the 28-year-old is conscious of the history she is making at a venue where only Martina Navratilova, Billie Jean King and Steffi Graf have been more successful in the Open era.

Navratilova won nine singles championships from 23 attempts; on Saturday, Williams claimed her fifth in 12 tries. Considering that the ratio of success is so similar, is Navratilova's incredible record within Williams's reach?

"Oh, my God, that would be the ultimate," said the world No.7 after beating her sister Serena 7-5, 6-4. "That's not easy. Her career also spanned, like, three decades, so I'm not sure if I have that much time. If I did, I think I would definitely dream of that."

Until Saturday, Williams had not won a title all year. Until Thursday, she had not contested even one grand slam semi-final in 2008. Yet when her feet touch the Wimbledon grass, it seems not to matter how underwhelming her results have been elsewhere. This is where she feels at home.

"It's unbelievable, especially with some of the injuries I've had to go through," Venus said. "It's so rewarding to perform here and to know that every time I come back that I have the ultimate chance to play well and make history."

This time, too, she seemed less inhibited by the fact she was playing her sister, who had beaten her in both their previous finals at SW19. After almost two hours of intense power tennis, the combatants embraced at the side of the net - but only briefly, for Serena looked as though she was keen to get away.

There is nowhere to hide on centre court, though, and grand slam finals failure is something the younger Williams has experienced only twice before. Venus, by comparison, has lost six of 13, the majority to her famously competitive little sister.

"I love winning and realise one has to win and one has to lose, and I've been at the losing end of the slams many times, so I guess it was my time to win," Venus said. "Of course, the celebration isn't as exciting because my sister just lost."

The winning Williams said that at no stage could she forget who it was across the net, thus her excitement was tempered by the fact that her win was Serena's loss.

Venus likes to jump up and down when she is truly happy, and the fact that there was no jig to be seen was an indication of just how difficult a final against your best friend and closest sibling can be. "My first job is big sister, so I take that very seriously," she said during the presentation ceremony.

As for the toll these matches take on the rest of the family - including patriarch Richard Williams, who went home early as he couldn't bear to watch - Venus joked: "I know. It's hard for all of 'em [but] I like to think that they want me to win."

Serena had led 4-2 in the first set and was playing ferociously, but then blamed lost rhythm for the increased errors that occurred in the difficult, windy conditions. It is no harder to lose to Venus than any other player, she said, but certainly no easier.

She had felt uncomfortable looking into the neutral player box, so tried to gather strength from within. She felt emotional on court, apparently, but claimed not to have felt tired. "I didn't play well. I did not play well today, that's all," she said, in the studied monotone of a loser.

Until now, Venus had not beaten her sister in a grand slam final since the first - at the 2001 US Open - of what has become seven. Perhaps the difference from five years ago, when they had last met at Wimbledon, was that Serena has always played for herself, but maybe now the ever-considerate Venus stopped playing for Serena as well.

"Obviously today I wanted to try to improve that record, and I didn't want the same trend to keep happening and then be like 6-1," she said. "So I climbed a tiny little notch up, so it's 2-5. Still behind, but I'm working on it."