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PHOTOS: Serena Williams Wins 5th Wimbledon Singles Title

PHOTOS: Getty

Serena Williams serves her way into history with her fifth Wimbledon singles final and 14th major championship. Williams bested third seeded Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland in only three sets today. Williams was serving 24 aces in the lead to today's final, reports the Los Angeles Times.

Williams, who had last won a Grand Slam title here two years ago, first overpowered and then outlasted the 23-year-old Radwanska, 6-3, 5-7, 6-2. Radwanska was playing in her first Grand Slam final.

Shortly after Williams, 30, dominated the 2010 Wimbledon championships, she had a foot injury that required surgery and then a pulmonary embolism that combined to keep her away from tennis for almost a year.

She made her return to majors tennis here a year ago but was upset in the fourth round. Williams suffered an unexpectedly decisive loss in the finals of the 2011 U.S. Open to Samantha Stosur, then lost in the fourth round of the 2012 Australian Open and in the first round of the French Open last May.

Serena Williams has captured five of the last 11 Wimbledon titles. That is the same number of Wimbledon championships—and twice as many Grand Slam titles—as her sister. "I've always wanted everything Venus had," told reporters.

Serena Williams Fined At Least $82,500 for Outburst at U.S. Open

Number One ranked tennis superstar Serena Williams was fined a record amount and could be suspended from future U.S. Opens after her infamous profanity-laced tirade at the Grand Slam in September.

Williams has been placed on an "unprecedented two-year probationary period" at Grand Slam events, reports the AP. She will have to pay an $82,500 fine and avoid a 'major offense' at the next eight major events. If she has another incident, the fine would be increased to $175,000 and Williams would be barred from the following U.S. Open.

Williams lashed out at a lineswoman after a foot-fault call at the end of her U.S. Open semifinal loss. The bizarre and ugly end to the competition gave a 6-4, 7-5 upset to the unseeded, unranked Kim Clijsters.

Chris Chase at Yahoo Sports: "Given the fact that Serena's outburst was more the exception than the rule (translation: she's not John McEnroe), it seems likely she'll avoid further sanction. ... The biggest question is why it took so long to make the decision about Serena's punishment? There wasn't much investigating to do here. This wasn't the Warren Commission. The Grand Slam officials needed to speak to Serena, the lineswoman, the chair umpire and, perhaps, any other U.S. Open officials within earshot. Stringing Serena along for three months was unfair and unnecessarily kept the story in the spotlight for longer than necessary."

The incident also became a flash point in race relations and many used  Williams' outburst as an excuse to vent racist stereotypes. YouTube, Huffington Post and many gay blogs (including this one) were overrun with thousands of racist comments. Watch the incident at the U.S. Open WHEN YOU JUMP.

VIDEO: Serena Williams' Outburst and Bizarre Exit from U.S. Open

On the verge of tying Billie Jean King for the number Grand Slam singles titles, Serena Williams' US Open seminfinals title defense ends with an expletive-laden rant and a bizarre loss to Belgium's Kim Clijsters.

Following a foot-fault call at match point by an over-aggressive lineswoman, Williams approached the line judge, shouting and cursing and pointed a racket in her face. The judge relayed the unpleasantness to the chair umpire who penalized Williams a point for "unsportsmanlike conduct." The ugly end to the competition gave a 6-4, 7-5 upset to the unseeded, unranked Clijsters.

Witnesses say the reigning champion of women's tennis told the judge: "You better f------ be right" and "I swear to God I’m f----g taking this ball and shoving it down your f-----g throat."

ABC News: "When the ruling was announced, Williams walked around the net to the other end of the court to shake hands with a stunned Clijsters, who did not appear to understand what had happened."

NYDN: "Really, it was all just very sad, lamentable. First there was the absurd foot-fault call by an overzealous lineswoman on an extremely critical point in that last game, on Williams' second serve at 15-30. Replays indicated it wasn't a foot fault at all. Then Williams was storming around, getting nailed with a second warning and losing match point, for threatening the lineswoman over the call."

Williams refused to explain her outburst in the post-match news conference: "What did I say? You didn't heard what I said? ... I've never been in a fight in my whole life, so I don't know why she would have felt threatened."

UPDATE: Racist comments galore on YouTube.

The incident and the post-match presser, WHEN YOU JUMP.

A History of Tennis "Nonwhites"

Two week ago, Venus Williams captured her 4th Wimbleddon Ladies' singles title, and, as Mad Professah notes, that victory comes exactly 50 years "after Althea Gibson [left] became the first African American tennis player to win a major title." It may seem that blacks have finally arrived in tennis, but, more recent events may suggest otherwise. In The Sunday New York Times, writer/columnist Touré reviews Charging the Net, a fascinating history of blacks in tennis:

[The] wide-ranging history, built on more than 65 interviews, tells in-depth stories about the lives of black tennis stars like Venus and Serena; Arthur Ashe; Althea Gibson, the Wimbledon champ from Harlem who ended up broke, reclusive and bitter; and Zina Garrison, the Wimbledon finalist who, during her career, was dragged down by bulimia and a husband who, she says, encouraged her to stay on the tour so he could continue his affair with one of her friends.[...]

Racism [is] a recurring theme, arguing that it has dealt a devastating blow to black tennis dreams. They write, 'The unspoken but persistent vibe that you are not welcome, that others would be happier if you went away, a vibe that black tennis players have sensed on the main tour for decades, makes it difficult to find the rhythm and comfort zone needed to perform at your best.' Leslie Allen, who played on the women’s tour in the ’80s, when players frequently stayed with host families rather than in hotels, says housing was often hard to find: 'I’d go to a tournament where the family wanted to house the No. 1 seed. But when that family found out that the No. 1 seed was me, then suddenly the housing disappeared.'"

There is also a companion review to tennis ace James Blake's new memoir. Touré is not very impressed the athlete's autobiography, noting that Blake "glosses over the subject of race" in general and in particular, his infamous moment at the United States open his "when his opponent, Lleyton Hewitt, suggested that a black linesman was making calls in favor of Blake because of their shared race." Thankfully, Blake expands upon that story to the authors of Charging the Net.

Tennis Nonwhites [NYT]
WIMBLEDON 2007: Ladies' Review [Mad Professah]

Some Background ...

James Blake in "Men's Vogue" [R20]