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WIMBLEDON, England -- Venus Williams jumped back into the
top 10 in the WTA Tour rankings Monday by winning Wimbledon, rising
from No. 16 to No. 8. The woman she edged 9-7 in the third set of Saturday's epic
final, Lindsay Davenport, increased her hold on No. 1, while
Williams' sister Serena dropped from No. 4 to No. 6 because she was
upset in the third round at the All England Club. Roger Federer stayed atop the ATP Tour entry rankings and ATP
Champions Race by winning a third consecutive Wimbledon title. None of the first eight spots in the men's rankings changed,
including Lleyton Hewitt at No. 2, French Open champion Rafael
Nadal at No. 3, Wimbledon runner-up Andy Roddick at No. 4,
Australian Open winner Marat Safin at No. 5, and eight-time major
champ Andre Agassi still at No. 6 despite skipping Wimbledon with
an injury. The biggest rise among the top men was turned in by Thomas
Johansson, who went from 22nd in the rankings to ninth by reaching
the semifinals, where he lost to Roddick. Venus Williams was at No. 1 for a total of 11 weeks in 2002,
then was surpassed by Serena, beginning a slow slide down the
rankings. Venus was No. 9 at the end of last season, then dipped to 13th
this spring, and then went all the way down to 16th after losing in
the third round of the French Open to 15-year-old Sesil
Karatantcheva. She was seeded 14th at Wimbledon, the lowest ever for a women's
champion. "I wasn't supposed to win. I guess whoever put a bet on me
really came in good on that," Venus said after claiming her third
Wimbledon title and fifth major overall. "But I always bet on
myself." She hadn't won a Grand Slam tournament since 2001, and hadn't
been past the quarterfinals at a major in two years. Before Wimbledon, Davenport led No. 2 Maria Sharapova by fewer
than 250 points, and the margin is now more than 1,150. Davenport
improved on last year's showing at the grass-court Grand Slam,
while Sharapova was the defending champion but lost to Venus
Williams in the semifinals. Amelie Mauresmo stayed at No. 3, followed by U.S. Open champion
Svetlana Kuznetsova -- who swapped spots with Serena Williams -- and
No. 5 Elena Dementieva.
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