Serena backs herself for title

Serena Williams has refused to concede sister and defending champion Venus is favourite for the Wimbledon title.

The pair are fancied by the bookmakers to set up another all-Williams final, with Serena facing Zheng Jie and Venus taking on Elena Dementieva in today’s semi-finals on Centre Court.

Many are tipping four-time champion Venus to go all the way, but Serena, herself a winner at the All England Club in 2002 and 2003 – when she beat her sister in the final both times – believes she is in pole position.

She said: “I’m not going to sit here and say (Venus is) favourite while I’m still in the tournament. That’s not me.

“I always believe that I’m the favourite. Even if I’m not the favourite, I’m always going to believe that I am.”

Dementieva, the highest seed left in the women’s draw, does not believe she is favourite to make it through to the final, let alone win the Wimbledon title.

She disagrees with Serena, believing Venus must be considered favourite for the crown.

She said: “Venus is the defending champion. She likes to play here on grass and she’s won a couple of times here.

“She really knows how to play here so I think she’s favourite, without the (top four) seeded players.”

All top four seeds failed to make it past the fourth-round stage this year - the first time that has happened since seedings were introduced back in 1927.

That has given Dementieva, into her first semi-final at the All England Club, a rare moment in the Wimbledon spotlight.

She is not getting carried away about her chances of beating grass-court expert Venus, though.

She said: “We never played on grass before so it’s going to be our first meeting on grass courts. We’ll see.”

Despite her opponent’s confidence in her, Venus herself claims she and sister Serena have not been discussing the possibility of facing each other in the final.

“We don’t really talk about tennis a lot,” she said. “The most we talk about tennis is when we’re on the doubles court.

“We want to deserve to be there. We have to play the best tennis to deserve it, so our aim is really to play better than our opponents and really deserve to be there.”

While Venus faces a tough match-up against Dementieva, Serena in theory should have a simpler task against wild card Zheng.

The world number 133 is the first Chinese player to reach a grand slam semi-final and the first wild card to reach the final four in the women’s draw.

And she is determined to enjoy the moment.

She said: “Serena, with no doubt, is an outstanding player, and so far I haven’t found any weak links about her. But as a first semi-final, I would rather enjoy the game than anything else.”