Serena Williams is already a winner, whatever happens in Wimbledon final

Serena is the clear favourite to match her older sister Venus’s haul of five Wimbledon singles titles against Agnieszka Radwanska tomorrow.

Her father thinks she’ll win but the 70-year-old American added: “To me, it won’t make a difference if she wins or loses. I’m just so happy she’s alive because there was a time I thought my daughter was going to die.

“I’m happy that she’s winning but the main thing for me right now is I’m just happy she’s alive and I think I’ll feel that way about her for the rest of my life because she was so close to dying it was unbelievable.

“And I really believe there was a time when Serena felt she would die, too.”

Serena suffered a pulmonary embolism — a blockage of a major artery — in March last year after she had been sidelined by a cut foot.

“It was too close, too scary, too frightening,” added her father. “Two big blood clots right in the middle of her heart. She’s blessed by Jehovah just to be walking now.”

His oldest daughter, Yetunde, was murdered in Los Angeles in 2003 and Venus is battling Sjogren’s Disease, which causes fatigue and muscle and joint pain.

Serena and Venus were brought up as Jehovah’s Witnesses and their father wore a polo shirt bearing the message ‘Jehovah is my God’ as he spoke yesterday.

Tomorrow, Serena faces the first Pole since Jadwiga Jedrzejowska in 1937 to reach a singles final at the All England Club. The sixth seed’s key weapon will be a record-breaking serve. Yesterday, on the way to crushing Australian Open champion Victoria Azarenka, of Belarus, she sent 24 aces thundering into her semi-final opponent’s court to beat her own Championship record for a women’s two-set match.

At 120.1mph, her fastest ace eclipsed Azarenka’s best by 15mph and brought her tournament total to 85, three short of her own Wimbledon record of 88 which will surely also fall.

Chris Evert, winner of 18 Grand Slam singles titles, including three at SW19, said: “Serena’s serve, and this is a compliment, is like a man’s right now in terms of miles per hour and also the way she is hitting the angles and placing the ball.”

In terms of a boxing match, the final will be like pitching a heavyweight against a middleweight. Head-to-head, the more balletic Radwanska has seeding (she is three) and age (23 against 30) on her side. But not much else.

Serena is taller, more powerful, has won both their previous meetings, including a 6-4, 6-0 triumph in the 2008 quarter-finals here, and has served an average of nearly 15 aces per match over the past fortnight to just over two by Radwanska. And the Pole’s fastest tournament serve so far is in the tennis slow lane, at 106.89mph.

It could be a one-sided affair tomorrow on Centre Court.