Venus celebrates her epic win

Venus Williams insists there are a lot more Grand Slam titles to come after winning her third Wimbledon title with a dramatic victory over fellow American Lindsay Davenport.

Williams triumphed 4-6 7-6 9-7 in a match which lasted two hours and 45 minutes, the longest women's final in Wimbledon history, during which she also saved a match point.

To add to the drama, Davenport required a medical time-out in the third set for an injured back.

But Williams, the number 14 seed who has suffered a series of injuries over the past two years, was adamant she knew she would be the champion once more, even though she had not won a Grand Slam for four years and her back-to-back Wimbledon titles were in 2000 and 2001.

"I've always felt like a champion in my heart," said Williams.

"I feel great but I feel like I want to do it a lot more.

"I knew my destiny was in the winners' circle. My destiny is to win big titles and lots of titles.

"Last time I knew I was going to win, but this time I didn't think about winning or losing until the end of the match."

Williams struggled to reach the form which had eclipsed Maria Sharapova in the semi-final but dug deep to combat everything the big-hitting Davenport threw at her.

"I wasn't able to play my best but just worked with what I had," said the 25-year-old.

"The only time I was in front was when I won the match. I just wanted to hang in there.

"I didn't want to be off the court in an hour.

"This victory has special meaning because I was 14th seed and I wasn't supposed to win.

"I was just thinking I had to stay tougher, hold serve and don't let them last longer than you. I wasn't thinking about anything else."

Williams insisted sister Serena, who went out in the third round, had taught her never to surrender, but admitted that tennis was not her top priority.

"I don't think tennis should be the most important thing in your life," she said.

"Tennis is all-consuming but it is only one part of my life. I'll move on from this and I make sure I don't live or die with each win or loss."

Meanwhile, Davenport put aside her own pain and insisted the injury she suffered when leading 3-2 in the final set was not a factor in her defeat.

The American number one seed received three minutes of treatment off court for a suspected pulled muscle in her lower back but praised Venus and admitted: "She deserved to win.

"She fought hard and played well when she was down. She was great."

Of the injury, Davenport said: "I went down to return and all of a sudden it tightened up on me.

"It's tight now but I'm thankful it never got worse and didn't detract from my tennis. I was a little nervous that on one ball it might completely lock up.

"But towards the end of the match it wasn't really a factor and I don't feel it cost me the match and I'm happy about that."

It was a typically generous reaction from the 29-year-old from California, who has suffered a series of injuries in the last five years.

"I was totally able to play through it," she said. "It wasn't anything that made me unable to perform."

In fact, Davenport, who served for the match at the end of the second set and squandered a match point in the third, was delighted to have taken part in a match which will go down as one of the most compelling in Wimbledon history.

"It was great and exhilarating," she said. "I felt I played great and got really close.

"I don't feel I have anything to hang my head or be ashamed about. She hit some great serves at crucial times. She just took it away from me very time I got up.

"Whenever I felt I was going to shut the door completely it was, oops, let's open that right up.

"It was really fun to play. I'm disappointed that I lost but who wouldn't want the opportunity to go through that.

"It will probably take me a bit of time to put it aside and move forward, but even after losing the second set I said, 'Hey, this is a great match'."