Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Live Saturday

Serena Williams Wins Wimbledon

Aired July 06, 2002 - 12:25   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Another great sporting event was played out in Europe today, the women's final at Wimbledon. The Williams sisters, perhaps in their most aggressive battle yet. But this time in Wimbledon, it was Serena dominating big sister. Our Richard Quest is live from Wimbledon, England with all the excitement. And of course, strawberries and cream.

And Richard, you know, Venus was very verbally gracious in her defeat, but her body language said she surely was very disappointed.

RICHARD QUEST, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Oh, there's no question about it. You could see in that second set as it became all too clear that the sheer power, the ability, the volleying, the ace serves from her sister, her younger sister, Serena Williams, you could see that Venus realized that she wasn't going to win this.

And although I wouldn't say she gave up the ghost and decided it was all over, there was a dismay about it, and at the end she was gracious but not terribly pleased.

Serena, on the other hand, she won. She sat down afterward and she just said, "wow, Wimbledon." There was absolute joy on her face as she picked up the trophy from Princess Alexandra and from the duke of Kent.

That was the mood. And for the mother, of course, it must have been true mixed emotion. I mean, you can hardly start cheering "rah, rah" when one daughter wins over another, but the mother is believed to have said that it was Serena's year to win Wimbledon. And more than one person pointed out that at least Venus has got two trophies on the cabinet to Serena's one trophy.

But at the moment, the glory goes to Serena. And I think what's interesting, Fredricka, about this particular match, to some extent, it does (UNINTELLIGIBLE) to the old chestnut that when these two women play each other, they don't go hell to leather to actually beat each other as they would against somebody else.

WHITFIELD: Well, Richard, what was interesting too is to listen to the crowd's reaction. You weren't hearing the roars, you know, with each point scored. It almost seemed as though the crowd wasn't quite sure who to root for, Serena or Venus.

QUEST: Whenever there's a Williams playing at Wimbledon, there tends to be the crowd gravitates to support them. When you've got both Williams, not only do they not know who to root for, but the crowd feels cheated. The crowd wants to have a really good match, and that means Williams against somebody.

And they feel to some extent -- I mean, Amelie Mauresmo put it, she said it was perhaps a bit sad that it was an all-Williams final. Because the other thing to remember, Fredricka, is that we've got years of this ahead. Serena is only 20; Venus is 22. If we look back at Navratilova, these women will be dominating Wimbledon for the next 10 years, and that's very much a thought in mind.

And I want to give you one bit of trivia. You know, when you work out just what we all take home in our pay pockets, the Williams sisters between them today took home in prize money, as winner and loser, $1.1 million. And since that final match lasted just 78 minutes, that works out to $14,000 a minute. Now, that will buy you a great deal of strawberries and cream.

WHITFIELD: It will indeed. All right. Well, thanks very much. Richard Quest from Wimbledon. Thanks very much.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com