LONDON (AP) Through it all, Venus Williams kept working, kept striving, kept eyeing yet another Wimbledon championship.
Through it all, through the difficult days of adjusting to life with an energy-sapping autoimmune disease, through the disappointing days of first-round losses that led to questions about retirement, through all of the accumulating years, she pressed on. And on Saturday, facing Garbine Muguruza in the final, Williams had a shot at her sixth title at the All England Club – nine years after her last one and, remarkably, 17 years after her first.
Williams twice was a point from taking the opening set before unraveling completely, dropping the last nine games and losing 7-5, 6-0 to Muguruza, who earned her first Wimbledon championship.