Serena seeks pay rise fit for a model champion

Younger sibling's emphatic straight-sets victory over Venus closes gap between the sisters both on and off court

When the barrage subsided and Serena Williams had proved herself a match for Venus, her older sister, as a Wimbledon champion and the world No 1, another reckoning began. Serena is demanding parity with Venus as a tennis clothes horse to the tune of £40m over five years.

The 20-year-old Serena's contract with Puma is due for renewal, and Nike is believed to be rival suitors. While keen to emphasise that she is not motivated by money (the £486,000 winner's purse took her career prize money to £5.5m), she said: "I like Puma a lot, and I just play tennis to play, not necessarily playing for huge money. But I do deserve it."

Venus, unbeaten in 20 matches at Wimbledon before she was rudely interrupted by Serena's 7-6, 6-3 triumph on Saturday, is one third of the way through a three-year deal with Reebok, worth £8m per year. Venus, 22, has won £7m in career prize money. Whatever the outcome of Serena's current negotiations, it seems reasonable to assume that the bailiffs are not about to come calling on the new home they share in Florida.

Moreover, for once, a major final between the phenomenal sisters left few spectators complaining that they had not received value for money. Last September's United States Open final, won by Venus, was a disappointment, and last month's French Open, won by Serena, was anticlimactic.

Such was the heat of competition they generated here that the crowd's gasps of admiration and awe were almost as loud as the grunting on court, although, to her credit, Baroness Thatcher, a guest in the Royal Box, lived up to her reputation as the Iron Lady and did not even flinch.

The din that greeted Serena's 100mph ace on set point to secure the first set tie-break, 7-4, may have drowned out the umpire's call of "let", because the players went back to their chairs and the official, Jane Harvey, from Somerset, did not call them back for the serve to to be replayed.

Serena said she did not hear the call. "Thank God I didn't, because that just felt like an unbelievable serve, and it would have been too bad if it had been called a let. I didn't know about it until Martina [Navratilova] told me in the locker room."

Asked if she was surprised that the umpire had not called them back, she said: "I'm definitely a little surprised. I don't think it was a let, I just feel it was a mistake." Does Venus know about it? "I don't know – I'm not telling her!"

Reminded that she had won her last three matches against Venus without dropping a set, on concrete in Key Biscayne, Florida, on clay in Paris, and on Wimbledon's Centre Court lawn, Serena smiled and said: "You guys are really up with those stats. I just was amazed that I won Wimbledon. Normally when you set your goals, you set them above what you can reach. When you reach for the sky, you might just land on a star. For me, it was just like, 'wow!' – I've won two Grand Slams in a row, and earlier this year I was a goner."

Having missed the Australian Open in January because of an ankle injury, Serena was rehabilitating when Venus arrived at the summit of the WTA rankings after playing in Dubai in February. "I said to myself, 'Right: French Open, Wimbledon, US Open, because you can make a lot of money in the US Open. I need he money.'" Serena laughed, along with her interviewers.

Various aches and strains have affected Serena's progress in the short time she has been competing on the tour. "I'm travelling with a personal trainer now," she said. "I think a lot of my injuries were mental injuries, because I could have been winning. I had chances last year here at Wimbledon, chances last year at the French. I just changed. I think I grew up a little bit."

So she is not a hypochondriac? "Not any more."

Without detracting from her own efforts, she added: "I don't think Venus played well at the Nasdaq Open or the French, and today, she won't admit to it, but her arm was really bothering her. I was a little lucky, because Venus was serving bad. But, hey, like she said, she has to compete, so I'm really happy just to be Wimbledon champion."

Pro rata, Venus probably took more off her serve in the women's final than Tim Henman did in trying to advance to the men's final. "Her arm was hurting in our doubles match [on Friday]," Serena said. "I asked her if she was okay, and she told me she had to compete. You can't get her to give up on anything, because she won't admit to anything like that. She'll never make an excuse. She's a little stubborn."

Their courtside chairs were arranged back-to-back either side of the umpire, but Serena turned hers to face the court. She also read notes of encouragement she had written down. "I actually saw Venus reading notes, so I stole [the idea] from her," Serena said. "I don't know why I have to have my chair [facing] the same way, but I do. Venus never turns her chair around. In doubles, I make her turn them round."

The younger sibling is accustomed to getting her own way. "Venus has always gone overboard with me," she said. "She's always gone out of her way to make sure I was happy. There were many times that she's done things me for me that nobody would have done. And when I got to places, she always calls to check on me. She actually worries about me like a parent. In that sense, yes, it's going to be difficult for me to accept that I'm beating my sister, but hopefully we'll share lots of Grand Slam titles between us. She has four, I have three."

Did she feel the intensity of their rallies and the all-round quality of their match had answered the sceptics who doubted that the could genuinely compete against each other? "People are never satisfied, and that's the truth. But you have to be satisfied with yourself, who you are. Venus and I, we've learnt that we're satisfied, and we're happy with us. We don't have a problem with anyone, whatever, because you have to be happy with the person inside. When you're a little bitter, a little angry, then you're going to become resentful, and if you become resentful, you should go somewhere and do something about it."

During a rain delay last week, Serena visited the Wimbledon Tennis Museum and saw dresses similar to the ones Maud and Lilian Watson wore for the inaugural women's singles final in 1884, when Maud defeated her older sister, 6-8, 6-3, 6-3. "The dresses were the length of the ground, but they would only come up to our knees," she said, laughing.

Maud was presented with a silver flower basket to the value of 20 guineas, Lilian received a silver and glass hand mirror and a silver backed brush, to the value of 10 guineas. They obviously did not have agents.

As a measure of her determination, Serena brought a dress for last night's Champions' Dinner with her to the tournament. "It's really nice," she giggled. "I'll just say it's white. I planned to do well, so I brought the dress with me, and shoes. If you fail to plan, you plan to fail." She laughed even louder at the proverb. "That's my Dad," she said. "Sorry."

Would she be extra motivated to win the doubles to enable Venus to wear a special dress to the dinner? "She should just wear a shoe box," Serena said, almost doubling up with laughter. "She doesn't care what she wears. She's pretty hard core."