SPORT When Venus Williams thinks of Wimbledon, what image comes to mind? She has won the tournament three times, so I expect her to name some crucial break-point or royal curtsey. Instead she rocks back, all 6ft 1in of her, and tells a story about her mother hobbling through Wimbledon village on an undiagnosed broken foot heading for the cookie tray. "Just always at the cookies!" Venus screams with laughter. Poor Mrs Williams subsequently spent time in a wheelchair having her sugar addiction mocked by her daughters. "I lost, Serena lost, but we had fun," says Venus.
We are sitting in her Paris hotel looking ahead to Wimbledon. It is perhaps 14ºC, which to Williams is like Siberian permafrost. After finding me, she hurries me with great courtesy from the hotel's door into the warm lounge.
