LONDON—The first serve that Venus Williams hit on Thursday flew straight at her opponent, Johanna Konta, who lunged just in time to avoid getting drilled by it. The ball landed well beyond the service line, but its message had been successfully communicated: If you can’t take the heat, the five-time Wimbledon champion seemed to be saying, you’re not going to last long on my court. And yes, while she hasn’t won here since 2008, Venus still looks like she believes that, with her sister Serena absent, Centre Court belongs to her. That’s how she’s played ever since she was invited back onto it on Monday.
Konta, despite the strenuous efforts of the audience, who hadn’t seen one of their own women in a semifinal here in 39 years, didn’t last long in Venus’ domain. In one of her cleanest performances in years, Williams terminated the Brit’s storybook run with maximum efficiency, 6-4, 6-2, in 73 mostly tense minutes. In doing so, she became, at 37, the oldest Wimbledon finalist since Martina Navratilova in 1994.
It wasn’t Venus’ power alone that won her this match. She hit just two aces, she and Konta both averaged 104 m.p.h. on their first serves and Konta actually smacked more winners, 20 to 19. It was Venus’ accuracy, and her ability to rise to any challenge, that made the difference. Often erratic in the past, on Thursday her shots were measured with precision and struck with a blend of aggression and margin. She never played it safe, but she made just nine errors in 18 games.
Venus played suffocating tennis, and forced Konta to match her intensity. But while Venus didn’t need to hit risky shots to do damage, Konta had to redline her game to keep up. Venus sent the same message with her early returns that she had with her serve; any time she got a look at a second ball to her backhand, she went for broke, and she usually made it. Konta was never not under pressure.
