Sisters ready for 10th anniversary final celebrations

Eight titles and a total of 13 final appearances later, Serena and Venus march back into SW19 this year as the world Nos 1 and 2, respectively, and looking unbackable bets to make the third consecutive final a family affair.

Through that time, the pair's ability to maintain their dominance of the sport has been questioned, with injuries, inactivity and fashion parades all at various times indicating their near future lay away from the game.

But having railed last year at the obvious unfairness of having won two grand slam titles yet still trailing Dinara Safina in the world rankings, Serena set about doing what she has always done best – clambering back to the top.

She will head into this year's Wimbledon as the defending champion having matched the record of one of her idols, Billie-Jean King, in claiming her 12th grand slam title at the Australian Open in January.

Now, those questions over her on-court commitment well and truly answered, Serena has hinted she will stick around long enough to challenge the records of the likes of Steffi Graf and even Martina Navratilova.

"I feel like I'm a better player now because I'm more experienced and I know what to do and how to play the tough moments," she said. "The competition is better now. There are so many great players.

"I'm really just playing for me, whether I'm the greatest or not. I can't even put myself in a sentence with Steffi and Martina, who were such great champions. To even be mentioned alongside them is a great honour."

Ten years ago, Venus and Serena met in the Wimbledon semi-finals for the first time and sparked a frenzy of media interest, with father Richard famously going walkabout rather than watching his daughters in action.

They have met in four finals since, and Richard's once apparently extrovert boast that the pair would wrestle for many more titles and the world No 1 ranking has come to fruition.

Their form heading into Wimbledon is notoriously hard to predict, given the way they both pick and choose their tournaments and show a relative disregard for the clay-court season, in which they have never excelled.

Serena missed five tournaments with a knee injury this year while Venus, in her quest for a sixth title, has suffered a similar problem as well as topsy-turvy form – including a 6-0 6-1 loss to Jelena Jankovic in Rome.

And yet the Williams sisters' ability to fashion a third straight final between the pair has been strengthened by the lack of obvious grass-court contenders coming up to mount a challenge.

The siblings have become almost as big a part of the modern-day Wimbledon experience as the ivy-clad walls and the strawberries and cream. And they plan on staying around SW19 for a long time to come.