Ten Years Later, Venus Williams and Lindsay Davenport Recall their Epic Wimbledon Final

It has been exactly ten years since Lindsay Davenport and Venus Williams contested the longest and arguably most riveting women's final in Wimbledon history, a near three hour, edge-of-your-seat barnstormer which saw the 25-year-old Williams prevail 4-6, 7-6(4), 9-7 to claim an unlikely third title against the then world No.1.

A decade later, the match remains a classic, a testament both to its quality and a subsequent dearth of competitive Wimbledon finals. While the men's side has been almost spoiled by great matches between Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, and more recently Andy Murray, the women's finals have typically been abrupt affairs, vanishing into the ether. Last year's one-sided clash between Petra Kvitova and Eugenie Bouchard took a mere 55 minutes.

But Davenport-Williams was something different. For a start, the back story alone was compelling. As top seed and 1999 champion, Davenport was the favourite, but the last of her three Grand Slam titles had come way back in January 2000. She had reached the Australian Open final earlier that year, but after a three-set loss to Serena Williams, some questioned whether she still had the mettle to win a major. At 29, many speculated this match could be her final opportunity.

Despite being a two-time Wimbledon champion, few pundits saw Venus Williams as a contender going into the tournament. Since the murder of her half-sister Yetunde Price in a drive-by shooting two years earlier, she had been a shadow of the player who dominated women's tennis in 2000 and 2001, entering the Championships seeded just 14th. Unexpectedly she ploughed her way through the bottom half of the draw without dropping a set, brushing aside defending champion Maria Sharapova in the last four. But could she really go all the way? It still seemed improbable.

"Serena's Australian Open win that year came against all the odds," Venus, now 35, recalled. "It was so inspirational for me. I remember waiting in the locker room and preparing to walk out and face Lindsay, and her advice to me was, 'If you take the opportunities which come your way, more will come.' But for most of it, it didn't seem like I had many!"

On a gloomy afternoon with storm clouds lingering in the distance, Davenport came out firing, taking a 5-2 lead and then the set, as Williams struggled to handle her accurate serving and pace off the ground.

The second set was tighter, but when Williams cracked at 5-5, double-faulting twice before slipping on break point to hand Davenport the chance to serve for the match, her hopes appeared to be fading. But somehow, Williams found the inspiration to break to love, before surging through the tiebreak.

"There were so many swings of momentum, up and down, up and down," Davenport said. "She kept fighting hard and coming back, and you know, she never cracks. Even when I was getting close, that was always when she played her best tennis."

The majority of Centre Court matches take place amid a serene oasis of calm, punctuated by the odd polite smattering of applause. But now and then, the old stadium crackles into life, the noise levels swirling around this cathedral of sound increase by 30 decibels, and the space between every point is filled by the urgent hum of 15,000 murmurs.

For much of the deciding set, Davenport looked the stronger player. She led by a break, and served for the match for a second time at 5-4, even getting to match point. But with her every shot accompanied by a primal scream, Williams snuffed it out, thrashing a backhand winner.

"I gave it absolutely everything in that set," Davenport recalls. "I had that match point, but for me the real big game was 4-2 in the third. I had 15-40 on her serve, a couple of chances to go up a double break, and you know matches are often won and lost on those games, not necessarily on match point. I had my chances and while I wasn't able to win those points, she played some fantastic tennis when she needed to and that's one of the reasons why she's always been so tough to beat at Wimbledon."

Five games later, another thunderous forehand saw Williams break to go 8-7 up. Having looked down and out for almost the entire match, she headed to the change of ends with the title within reach.

"I'd been behind in the match almost all afternoon," she says. "And finally I was leading in the very last game. As I was sitting there, it felt like Serena's words beforehand were echoing through my head."

Williams double-faulted on her first match point. But there were to be no more twists. A tired forehand from Davenport flopped into the net, and leaping and bouncing with delight, Williams was a Wimbledon champion once again.

"It was a great match, one of the best matches I played and still lost which I think says a lot for Venus and how good and how athletic she was, especially back then," Davenport says. "The atmosphere was incredible and while it was obviously disappointing to come out on the losing end, especially having lost several other close matches in the slams that year, it was an amazing final to be a part of. I think we played a very high quality match throughout, and as a competitor, that's always what you want, your opponent having to play their best to beat you."

In 2005, few thought Williams would still be involved in the game ten years later, especially as the sisters had always hinted they would quit tennis to focus solely on other interests such as acting and fashion.

But as the sisters have matured, so has their love for the game. Venus reached the last sixteen this year before losing 6-4, 6-3 to her sister, and is determined to return in 2016. At 39, Davenport is five years younger than Kimiko Date-Krumm, the Japanese veteran who managed to reach the Wimbledon third round two years ago, but her competitive appearances are limited to the legends circuit these days.

"Oh god no!" she says, laughing at the thought of returning to the tour. "The Williams sisters are two of the best athletes ever to play tennis, and that's one of the reasons for their longevity. They're fantastic athletes in different ways, you look at both of them and no matter what sport they would have chosen, they would have been the best in the world. They've both been through so much on and off the court but they still love this game, they're still dominating and they aren't going anywhere which is fantastic."

These days Davenport divides her energies between her four children, aged between 1 and 8, TV work and coaching. During Wimbledon 2015, she's conducted a series of coaching clinics with primary school children in partnership with HSBC, and at the very highest level, she's thrilled at the progress made by her protégée Madison Keys.

"Coaching's a very different challenge psychologically," she says. "It's all about recognizing that everyone's different and tailoring your methods to your player. Sitting in that box, you definitely still get nervous, maybe not always about the result but little things we've been working on together. But I've always looked as nerves as a good thing because it means you care."

Like Davenport, Keys is a tall right-hander with a thumping serve and groundstrokes. She was tipped by Chris Evert to be a future world number one. The two began working together at the start of 2015, and since then Keys reached the Australian Open semi-finals, and made the last eight at Wimbledon before falling to Agnieszka Radwanska.

Davenport hopes Keys and others can herald a new golden age for American tennis. In 2005, American success was never too far away but it's now six years since the last all-American Grand Slam final, contested by the Williams sisters at Wimbledon 2009. But as a keen follower of the younger generations, Davenport believes there's plenty of talent waiting in the wings.

"I think the pendulum is starting to swing again," she said. "Just walking around during the latter stages of the junior French Open last month, there was this whole group of American boys who were still in the draw. Three of the four semi-finalists were American and it was an all-American final. Right now the competition at the top of men's tennis is intense and it doesn't seem like Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray or any of those guys are going anywhere. But I'm really hopeful that when these juniors fully develop and mature in about eight years time, they're provide us with the next set of champions."