Williams sets new targets as desire remains

The world No 1 made it 13 grand slam singles titles on Saturday when she beat Vera Zvonareva 6-3 6-2 to retain her Wimbledon crown.

Williams's fourth singles title at the All England Club took her above mentor Billie Jean King into sixth outright on the all-time list, with Margaret Court, Steffi Graf, Helen Wills, Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova above her.

At 28, and with rivals seemingly thin on the ground, the American could potentially challenge Evert and Navratilova, who are tied on 18 titles each.

Williams, though, will be happy to consider her place in history when her playing career is over.

She said: "I don't think about it. I'm still in my career and I never look outside of it while I am in it because I don't want to think, 'I've done that and I've done that', because then I could become happy and satisfied, and I would probably lose my desire."

King was in the Royal Box to see Williams move past her, and the two spoke afterwards.

"She said she was proud of me and to go out and win some more," added Williams.

The top seed joked she should give the Venus Rosewater Dish to her serve, which was the primary reason she managed to finish the fortnight having not dropped a set.

Williams served 89 aces during the tournament, the same as Andy Murray, and did not have to save a single break point during her victory over Zvonareva.

But the 28-year-old revealed her best display of serving may never have happened had she not been so unhappy with it during her French Open quarter-final defeat by Sam Stosur last month.

She said: "The French Open is why my serve is so good because I thought I served so badly in my quarter-final match.

"Usually, I take a day off but I went straight home and said, 'I'm going to have to work on my serve because if I serve like this again I don't know how much longer I'm going to be out here'.

"Maybe that happened for a reason. I'm so excited, I just hope I can keep serving like this."

As impressive as it undoubtedly was, Williams's comfortable victory cast a somewhat unflattering light on the women's game, where great grand slam finals have been few and far between in recent years.

The world No 1, though, insists she does not have it easy, saying: "I'm definitely being challenged. These girls are playing so tough.

"I saw some girls hitting 106mph second serves against me, and I'm thinking, 'Do they normally play like this? Because if so they should be number one'."

And there is no chance of Williams relaxing while her record of never having lost in the first round of a grand slam remains intact.

"I'm nervous every time I play in the first round," she added. "I was super nervous in my first round in Paris and I played horrendously. I know records are meant to be broken and I don't want it to happen yet."

"Of course she's beatable," insisted a defiant Zvonareva, after a 6-3 6-2 humiliation in an hour and seven minutes, which seemed to have been designed to prove anything but.

"She's a human being. She's not a machine."

Zvonareva, who had excelled in reaching her first grand slam final at the age of 25, had talked ambitiously beforehand of matching Williams's power stroke for stroke.

The reality, from Williams's first service game which she held to love in less than two minutes, was rather different, resulting in the most one-sided final since sister Venus's victory over Marion Bartoli three years ago.

Williams fashioned her crucial break in the ninth game of the first set with a slamming forehand drive down the line, a dramatic enough winner that it sent the overwhelming favourite down on one knee with a roar of triumph.

The contest, such as it was, was effectively over after the first game of the second set, when Zvonareva flopped a miserable forehand into the net to hand Williams a break she never looked like relinquishing.

For Zvonareva, it increasingly became less about recovery and more about mere survival. She was almost decapitated by another searing Williams winner as she served out for a 5-1 lead, and the Russian could not prolong the inevitable much longer.

"It was very difficult for me to play my best today because she was better," admitted Zvonareva. "Sometimes I can lose a match and think I did everything, but today I'm disappointed because I think I could have played better tennis.

"I think it was great to be in the final and I think I will realise it later. It was definitely a good experience for me. It's been a great week and, hopefully, it can help me in the future."

The day, though, was all about Williams, and with a suitably dramatic smash winner on match point, Williams hurled her racket towards the blue sky and saluted her family in the galaxy of champions who looked on admiringly from the Royal Box.

If this most dominant of campaigns proved anything, it is that Williams is destined to be weighed up alongside the greats of history. For the time being, at least, she remains utterly out on her own.