Serena curses missed chance at calendar slam

By Neil Maidment

LONDON (Reuters) - Serena Williams said her delight at securing her third Wimbledon title had been tempered slightly by her regret at missing out on a rare calendar grand slam of the major titles.

A three-set defeat to eventual champion Svetlana Kuznetsova in the quarters at Roland Garros, sandwiched between Australian Open and Wimbledon titles, scuppered her chances of joining Margaret Court, Maureen Connolly and Steffi Graf in the elite group of women to claim all four slams in a calendar year.

"I think this is the year I could have done it, I honestly had the biggest chance to win all four that I have ever had in my career," Serena told reporters.

"I really just screwed up, but I can't live in the past, even though I am always still thinking about my quarter-final match that I could have won."

Serena, who beat sister Venus for her third All England Club singles title on Saturday, will instead try and find consolation in a second non-calendar slam.

She completed the 'Serena Slam' in 2003 when victory in the Australian Open meant she was the holder of all four major titles having won the French Open, Wimbledon and the U.S. Open the previous year.

"My goal now is to keep winning, until I get to the French and then win the French and then I'll just have another Serena Slam," Serena adds.

Saturday's win was Serena's 11th grand slam victory and moved her into seventh place in the all-time singles leaders list behind childhood idol Billie-Jean King.