Wimbledon flashback: Venus does it her way

Exactly 25 years ago, the rise of a superstar was confirmed as Venus Williams won her maiden Grand Slam title in the most unconventional of circumstances.

Australian Tennis Magazine covered Williams’ Wimbledon 2000 triumph.

Has there ever been a Wimbledon coup quite so astonishing? Venus Williams missed six months of competition because of tendinitis in both wrists. She had played only nine matches this year before flying to London, having lost to Amanda Coetzer at Hamburg, Jelena Dokic in Rome, and Arantxa Sanchez Vicario in Paris.

Yet now she is the Wimbledon champion, the first black American woman to capture the game’s most coveted title since Althea Gibson in 1957-58, and no one can say she doesn’t deserve to be. In her last three matches, she overpowered Martina Hingis, the champion in 1997, her sister Serena, the reigning US Open champion, and, in the final, the defending Wimbledon champion, Lindsay Davenport 6-3 7-6(3). It was a triumph of athleticism and mental toughness over adversity.

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