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Wimbledon champion Serena hits out at Safina status

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Agencies

Posted: Jul 05, 2009 at 2356 hrs IST

London Serena Williams mocked Dinara Safina's status as world number one on Saturday after wrapping up her third Wimbledon title and 11th Grand Slam crown.

Williams defeated sister Venus 7-6 (7/3), 6-2 and now holds three of the four majors.

But despite her success, the 27-year-old American hit out at the current system which will still see Safina as the world number one on Monday even though the Russian has yet to win a major.

Safina's position came under renewed fire when she was humiliated in the semi-finals here when she lost 6-1, 6-0 to Venus.

"I think if you hold three Grand Slam titles maybe you should be No. 1, but not on the WTA Tour obviously," said Williams.

"My motivation is maybe just to win another Grand Slam and stay No. 2, I guess. It's shocking. I'd rather definitely be No. 2 and hold three Grand Slams in the past year than be No. 1 and not have any."

Williams then mocked Safina's ascent to the top of the world rankings.

"I see myself as No. 2. That's where I am. I think Dinara did a great job to get to No. 1. She won Rome and Madrid..,"

she said before making a desperate attempt to limit the damage from her remarks.

"If I'd have done better at the French Open, like got to the semifinals, maybe things would have been different. But, honestly I'm not picking on anybody. Everyone works hard.

"I think the girl, Dinara, who is No. 1, you can clearly see by her physique how hard she works. You can't get anywhere by not doing the best and not working your hardest.

"So, I'm happy for her but I'm really excited that I won Wimbledon. I don't know what to do to be No. 1. I don't even care anymore. I'm just happy to be here."

Venus, who had been hoping for a hat-trick of Wimbledon titles and sixth in total, admitted she may have got her tactics wrong in the final.

"I definitely would have liked to have moved forward. A lot of times when I had the short balls, they were low.

They're really low, and it's hard to come in on those and actually hit an effective shot and come in," said Venus.

"Towards the end I was too far behind the baseline. I did realize that, but at that point I guess it was a little deep into the match."

Venus had her chances in the first set but couldn't convert two break points she had carved out in the eighth game before her younger sister proved the more dynamic in the tie-break.

Serena then went on to break to lead 4-2 in the second set when Venus double-faulted.

"She played great, especially in the tie-break. I don't think I did too many things wrong in the tie-break," added Venus.

"I would just play a good shot and she'd just hit a winner off of it or put me in a position where she could hit another winner.

"In the second set I guess I had two close service games.

I think I lost it from the ground. I had good serves, and then from the ground I would rush the shot.

"Instead of ending the point on two shots, I tried to end it off on one."

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Same Rules. by Ahmed on 06 Jul 2009

Serena and Safina are Subjected to the same rules of classification. If she is so better, why couldn't she be number one instead of Safina. By the way her Modeling thing proved that Photoshop is a hell of a great program.

Get a life !! by Ravi on 05 Jul 2009

Serena! Get a life. You are #2 and Safina is #1. Get used to it. Stop bitching, stop modelling and play tennis all year round like Safina does. Earn your points and get to #1.

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