After the smoke clearer, world No. 1 Serena Williams showed that perhaps her only equal on tour is injury.

“I have mixed feelings about that,” Williams said. “You know, I don’t think I should be out there. But in a way, I feel like, you know, with my popularity, it’s cool to see — when I was leaving, I stayed for a while, and I signed tons of autographs. A lot of these people can’t get into the Centre Court and stuff.”

“Tina Turner? I love her,” said Williams on the inspiration for her outfit. “I love Tina Turner. Obviously, she’s just an amazing, amazing artist, just a survivor. She reinvented herself. Plus she looks great. I’ve loved her forever. So the dress is really inspired by her.”

World No. 1 Serena Williams actually has a difficult draw. She will start against the screamer Michelle Larcher de Brito, then probably meet former Top 10er Anna Chakvetadze in the second round. No. 25 Lucie Safarova or Dominika Cibulkova await after that, then a fourth-round showdown with Sharapova. Pencil in No. 9 seed Na Li to be waiting for Serena in the quarterfinals.

Aristotle said it best when he said, “Excellence is an art won by training and habituation. We do not act rightly because we have virtue or excellence, but we rather have those because we have acted rightly. We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit.”

Leading 6-5 in the second-set tiebreak, Roddick had a relatively-easy high volley put-away on an attempted Federer pass that he for an instant took his eye off of — an instant that changed the match from a potential 2-0 set lead to one-set all.

“Today she was too good, she had an answer for everything. She played the best tennis today,” Venus said. “I’m still smiling though, I don’t think the loss has set in yet. I’ve had so many great times here. I love what I do and most of all I love playing these finals. I’ll see you all again next year, of course.”

Roddick will face Roger Federer in their third meeting in the Wimbledon final. Federer was flawless in dismissing a determined former No. 2-ranked Tommy Haas 7-6(3), 7-5, 6-3. It was another solid performance from Haas who has shown he can play the former world No. 1 close, but perhaps doesn’t have the deep-down belief he can beat the Swiss. Last month Haas led Federer by two sets to love before losing in five at the French Open.

Venus has won five of the last eight against Serena…

Venus steamrolled the No. 1-ranked Safina 6-1, 6-0, with the Russian exhibiting the throat-clutching tennis she usually saves for Grand Slam finals, where she is 0-3 career. It was the first appearance in a Wimbledon semifinal for Safina.