[freddystone]

For me, I guess the upside is that I had time to mentally prepare for this. I was feeling pretty sure after the way things unfolded on Thursday that Serena had her teeth in the 2009 Wimbledon, while Venus didn't. Last year, Venus had to endure some very serious challenges from players that generally fall into the "scrub" category (Dementieva excluded, of course). She got pushed in just about every match. And for her, I think that's a good thing. If she could get pushed at Melbourne or Roland Garros without losing, both of those majors could be different stories for her.

So for the time being, I'm in the "ah phooey, this is just another match" mode.

I felt strongly before Wimbledon that Venus wouldn't win it. But then I got my hopes up again when I saw the draw. She really couldn't have asked for a better draw. The only one that really bothered me was the prospect of Suarez Navarro, but it's hard for someone to beat Venus two times in a row, and most importantly, this was grass, not clay or a hardcourt.

And like I said, I pretty much lost hope on Thursday, but got my hopes up again today when Serena was serving at 3-4, 15-40... And then Venus sent that forehand pass well long... And my heart couldn't have sunk any lower.

But to answer your question, nelslus, I would vote for the "Serena wanted it more"... And that's still consistent with how I recount how things unfolded, because Venus never really had an opportunity in the first six rounds to be challenged re: how badly she wanted to win this... And by the time she realized it today, serving at 2-5 in the second, it was too late.