Wimbledon: Serena Williams vows this will start her climb back to the top

The American, now 30, went through a nightmare period of injury and illness from the middle of 2010 which kept her out of action for almost a year.

It all began with no more than a cut on her foot, but matters became complicated when she developed a pulmonary embolism which briefly threatened her life.

“I never dreamt of being here again,” Williams said on court after her 6-1, 5-7, 6-2 win over Agnieszka Radwanska.

“You just never give up, you can continue. Thank you, guys in the box today, daddy, mum – I can’t name everyone but thank you from the bottom of my heart.”

But, as she later explained, there was a time when she was so ill that she felt there would be no way back to life as a professional sportswoman.

“I was on the couch and I didn’t leave for two days. I was praying, like, I can’t take any more. I’ve endured enough. Let me be able to get through this.

“I was just so tired at that point. I had a tube in my stomach and it was draining constantly. Right before that I had the blood clot, I had lung problems, I had two foot surgeries. It was a lot. I just felt down. The lowest of lows.”

This was Williams’s fifth Wimbledon title, bringing her equal with sister Venus, and her first major for two years.

She is determined that this will be the start of a sustained revival, not just a mere coda to her career.

“Are you kidding?” she said when asked if anything else could top this win, and if there was anything else she wanted from life.

“The US Open, the Australian Open, the French Open, Wimbledon 2013.”

Radwanska, for whom this was a first Grand Slam final, was understandably dejected after her defeat.

But she was able to reflect on a tournament in which she has made substantial progress.

“I think I had the best two weeks of my life,” she said. “Serena was playing too good today, but I’m just happy to be here in the final. I have great memories of here from 2005 when I won Junior Wimbledon, and I had the chance to add the [senior] one too. But today was not my day. But I’ll try again next year.

“I think I was playing great matches here and I was playing my best today as well. Thank you very much for the support.”