ARE you looking at my titles? Serena Williams sat in the white T-shirt, the red letters proclaiming their message with a brazenness one does not associate with the woman who had just won the Wimbledon championship.

There could only be one answer. What else, my dear? What else?

Serena had just beaten her sister 7-6, 6-2 to win another grand slam.

"I am only at 11," she said. She was referring to major singles titles won and her modesty was induced by the prospect of chasing down Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova, who have 18. Steffi Graf, at 22, and Margaret Court, on 24, are almost certainly beyond the rampaging American. It will just be a matter of time before she overtakes Billie Jean King on 12.

Yet, for all her obvious claims to be a winner, Serena went into the final with her sister with severe doubts in her mind. "This was one of the few times I didn't expect to come out with the win," she admitted.

She now holds three of the grand slam titles, with only the French Open eluding her. Yet she is still No 2 in the world behind Dinara Safina. Go figure, as they say in the Williams homeland. But Serena chose Independence Day to make her own declaration of intent. She is out for more. "I feel like I'm really young," she said of her 27 years.

Asked if she wanted to go down as the greatest player of all time, she replied: "That would be a great legacy. But I'm just playing for me, whether I'm the greatest or not. I can't even put myself in a sentence with the greatest because I think of people like Martina Navratilova, Steffi Graf and Billie-Jean King. They were such great champions. To even be mentioned with those people is a real honour to me."

But she feels she is improving. "I'm a little bit more of a better player because I'm more experienced now and I know how to play the tough moments," she said. She survived one of them in the semi-final against Elena Dementieva, escaping from a match point against her.

"The match is never over until you shake the opponent's hand," she said. "You never give up and you always keep fighting. It's just a good lesson for life, not just sport."

If this was a serious point, the holder of three grand slam titles was playful about her ranking behind Dinara Safina. Asked about her motivation to take over the No 1 spot, she said: "I'm not super motivated. If you have three grand slam titles then maybe you should be No 1, but not on the WTA tour obviously."

She added mischievously: "My motivation is maybe to win another grand slam and stay No 2."

The sisters can never be drawn on their interaction before, during and after finals. They have played each other 21 times in the ultimate round of professional tournaments with Serena winning 11 of them.

"I didn't think about Venus at all today," she said. "I just saw her as an opponent.

At one point after the first set, I looked up at the side of the court and saw the statistics. It was like Williams, Williams . . . I could not figure out which was which."

Her sister seemed disturbed by the wind and hampered by her knee injury. But she is a champion too and made light of both. Venus does not make excuses. "I have no complaints," she said.

But her attempt for a sixth singles title at Wimbledon fizzled out as her opponent seem to gain in strength and confidence.

"She played great, especially in the tie-break," Venus said of her conqueror.

Asked about the difference between the Williams and the other competitors in the ladies singles, she said: "It is the serve. There are women out there who also can serve big. We serve big, but we also serve very effectively, especially off the first serve. It seems like when we need that serve, most of the time it's there."

It was not quite there for Venus yesterday. She won 70% of her points on first serve. Serena won 94% of points on her first serve. That difference tilted the match in favour of the holder of the US Open, the Australian Open and now the Wimbledon champion.

Venus was left to rue the sixth Wimbledon title that got away. Was it easier or harder losing to her sister as opposed to anybody else?

"There is no easy to losing, especially when it's so close to the crown," she said with a quiet sadness.

She was reunited with her sister later on court. They won the ladies' doubles title, defeating Samantha Stosur and Rennae Stubbs of Australia 7-6, 6-4.

It was, under the circumstances, little consolation for Venus. It did mean that the world could look at another Serena title, though.