Record-chasing Serena staying focused

SERENA WILLIAMS is determined not to enjoy her incredible tennis success too much – so she can have more of it.

The world number one made it 13 Grand Slam singles titles on Saturday when she beat Vera Zvonareva 6-3 6-2 to retain her Wimbledon crown.

Williams’ fourth singles title at the All England Club took her above mentor Billie Jean King into sixth outright on the all-time list, with only 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.”

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 ever display of serving may never have happened had she not been so unhappy with her serve 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’.”

A tearful Vera Zvonareva suffered further Wimbledon final heartbreak on Centre Court on Saturday night as American Vania King and Kazakhstan’s Yaroslava Shvedova claimed the women’s doubles title.

Zvonareva was visibly upset after losing the first set and her and Russian compatriot Elena Vesnina fell away for a 7-6 (8/6) 6-2 defeat.