Venus Williams, the great survivor, stays focused for tilt at Wimbledon history | Kevin Mitchell | Sport

Venus Williams, the great survivor, stays focused for tilt at Wimbledon history | Kevin Mitchell | Sport

It must be tough having a younger sister who is widely regarded as the best player in the history of the women’s game, yet it has never played a significant part in the parallel careers of Venus and Serena Williams. What rivalry there is resembles that between Andy and Jamie Murray, long-standing but coated in sibling warmth.

Serena, who is expecting her first child, is at home in Florida but never far from the thoughts of her older sister and Venus, in her ninth Wimbledon final on Saturday, will have good cause to mention her again if she beats the Spaniard Garbiñe Muguruza â€" who lost to Serena in the final two years ago.

Victory would bring Venus a sixth Wimbledon singles title, one behind Serena, and, at 37, she would overtake her as the oldest champion at the All England Club in the Open era. Nobody, man or woman, has appeared in more grand slam tournaments than Venus, who is in her 75th. Roger Federer, rising 36, is the lauded monument to longevity but Williams is a true survivor, on and off the court.

Yet, for all that she is delighted to be in another final and is overjoyed that Serena will soon be a mother, a strange melancholy seemed to hang over her after she found some of her best tennis to finish off Johanna Konta with clinical efficiency in their semi-final on Thursday. Her voice trembled a little, she smiled to herself as if existing in her own bubble and provided only the most perfunctory of answers.

Talking to the media has invariably been a chore for her; indeed she was fined $7,500 (£5,775) for failing to fulfil her commitments after beating Jelena Ostapenko in the quarter-finals â€" and she has more than once turned down BBC requests here for a post-match interview. That is her prerogative, of course, and the financial penalty will not bother her but it is odd that she does not engage more. She has a considerable fan base and is always warmly received, as befits someone who has won seven slam titles and has graced this tournament with her wondrous gifts since 1997.

But, as she said before the final: “Even though this is entertainment, for the players it’s complete and pure focus. You don’t see anything or hear anything except the ball and what’s going on in your head.”

She did remember her debut at the All England Club, though, when the Pole Magdalena Grzybowska beat her 4-6, 6-2, 6-4 in the first round. “I was so nervous. It was a total disaster,” she said. “Poor young V. But I’ve definitely come up since that time. I don’t think I could ever be that nervous. Also I know how to handle it a lot better. There’s moments where maybe you aren’t as relaxed as other moments but it’s about handling it.”

And that, in short, is why she wraps herself in her own thoughts, fending off all intrusions. She has had a life rich in all the emotions, good and bad, from enduring the debilitating Sjögren’s Syndrome that struck her down in 2011, to all the glorious, sun-filled triumphs on the court.

“There’s definitely [been] a lot of ups and downs,” she said. “I just try to hold my head up high, no matter what is happening in life.”

Muguruza â€" whose relationship with the media is similarly mixed â€" acknowledges that her opponent on Saturday is a special player. “It’s very impressive,” she said on Friday of Williams’s staying power. “I think not everybody can do that. It goes a lot also with the strength of your body, your style of game. For me it’s incredible. I don’t think I could be 37 and playing that level.

“She just loves to play and she enjoys going out there. At least it’s what it shows. She keeps playing, even though she achieve so many things. She’s still motivated to go for more, which is also very surprising.”

Muguruza, who won the French Open last year but has had an indifferent time of it since, took a lot from her match here two years ago against Serena.

“That final helped me a lot to figure out a way to play better on grass because before I was, like, not very experienced. Never played a lot of tournaments. It was just a very surprising moment when you reach a final in a tournament where you thought it was going to be difficult. Right now I know how to play more on grass.

“When I reached the final in 2015, and when I won the French Open, I could feel the difference between winning a grand slam and not winning. It’s a huge difference.”

Both finalists rely on uncomplicated games of big serving and ground strokes. There will probably not be much subtlety on show.

“I try not to change a lot of things because I think my game, if I have a good level, it’s very good to go out there and have a lot of chances to win,” Muguruza said.

She was strangely reluctant, however, to give much credit to her esteemed coach, Conchita Martínez, who, as it happens, was the last other Spanish player to go up against an American in a final here, when she beat Martina Navratilova in 1994.

Muguruza said: “I’m here because I’ve done the hard work before. The magic doesn’t happen just because somebody comes in, and all of a sudden you are incredible. No. I think she’s helping me how to deal with the tournament, because obviously it’s a grand slam, and it’s difficult to handle because it’s two weeks. She has experience.

“But it’s the work that I’ve been doing with her here, and before with my previous team, everything together. It’s working,” she added.

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