Venus Williams is back in the world's top 10 and determined to stay where she feels she belongs.
The 25-year-old claimed her third Wimbledon title, courtesy of Saturday's epic victory over fellow American Lindsay Davenport, to signal her return to the big time.
Williams, world number one in February 2002, had dropped to 16th after a couple of years plagued by injury and loss of form and entered Wimbledon a lowly 14th seed.
But she made a mockery of the rankings with her semi-final defeat of defending champion Maria Sharapova and, after toppling the world number one 4-6 7-6 9-7 in the longest and arguably greatest women's final in Wimbledon history, is expected to rise to eighth when the new rankings are released today.
She said: "I'm happy to be back there, it's where I feel I belong."
Williams, who had lost in each of her previous five Grand Slam finals, went into Wimbledon history with her victory over an ailing Davenport, who had served for the match in the second set before being struck by a back strain.
Williams became the first women's champion for 70 years to survive a match point and, when the match ended after two hours and 45 minutes, it had exceeded the previous longest final, Margaret Court's win over Billie Jean King 35 years earlier.
Williams had been inspired by King during a rain break in the first week.
"She said to enjoy the moment. That's what I tried to do on the court, enjoy it," Williams said.
