Williams cements place in sporting pantheon

Serena Williams admits she’ll rest easier after finally securing her place in sporting immortality with a seventh Wimbledon crown and landmark 22nd Grand Slam singles title.

Williams gained sweet revenge over Angelique Kerber with an iron-willed 7-5 6-3 victory over the German left-hander in a high-quality final at the All England Club on Saturday.

The emotional triumph drew the superstar level with Steffi Graf’s open-era record tally of major singles titles, after Kerber denied her the milestone in this year’s Australian Open final and Garbine Muguruza thwarted Williams again in last month’s French Open decider.

“It’s obviously a great relief,” Williams said.

“It’s been incredibly difficult not to think about it. I have, definitely had some sleepless nights, if I’m just honest, with a lot of stuff. Coming so close. Feeling it, not being able to quite get there.

“It’s awesome. I’m just so excited.”

Williams now trails only Australian Margaret Smith Court on the all-time Grand Slam titles leaderboard and few would back against the all-conquering world No.1 reaching the legend’s 24 majors at Melbourne Park in January.

Already the oldest ever women’s Grand Slam victor, the 34-year-old’s latest success is the strawberries and cream on an extraordinary career.

At a time when most champions are long retired, the ageless American has now won an amazing nine Grand Slam titles since turning 30 and suffering a life-threatening pulmonary embolism in 2011.

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Underlining her incredible longevity and dominance over three generations of challengers, Kerber was Williams’ 14th Grand Slam final victim since winning her first in 1999 aged 17.

Her scalps represent a who’s who of pretenders to her throne over two decades.

Martina Hingis, Maria Sharapova, sister Venus, Lindsay Davenport, Jelena Jankovic, Dinara Safina, Vera Zvonareva, Justine Henin, Agnieszka Radwanska, Victoria Azarenka, Caroline Wozniacki, Lucie Safarova, Garbine Muguruza and now Kerber have all succumbed to Williams’ unrivalled serving excellence, raw power and competitive fire.

But the world No.1 had to dig deep on Saturday, with the 28-year-old German putting up an almighty fight.

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Kerber was gracious in defeat after falling a win short of being the first German since Graf to lift the title at the All England Club and the first player to beat both Williams sisters en route to the Wimbledon title.

“Really congratulations to Serena. You really deserved the title. You’re a great champion, a great person,” Kerber said.