Venus proud of Wimbledon achievement

Michael Venus may be naturally disappointed at missing out on the chance to win his second grand slam but he’s still proud of what he achieved at Wimbledon over the past fortnight.

Venus and partner Raven Klaasen lost a gripping men’s doubles final 6-3 6-7 6-3 5-7 7-5 to American’s Mike Bryan and Jack Sock yesterday. It was a final where Venus and Klaasen twice managed to battle back from a set behind and, in the fifth set, they had a break point at 4-3, which they were unable to take and eventually Klaasen was broken at 5-5 and Bryan then held serve for the championship.

‘‘Obviously, I would have loved to have won it but that’s not the case,’’ Venus said.

‘‘We put ourselves into a position to win it, to be serving for the match, and that’s all you can ask, to keep putting yourself in those positions.

‘‘We’ve got to take the positives from it, keep working, building and trying to improve.’’

Venus was aiming to become the first New Zealander since Anthony Wilding in 1914 to win an adult title at Wimbledon, as well as join Wilding as the only other Kiwi to win more than one grand slam title.

While Venus was unable to achieve that, he is at least able to console himself by picking up a cheque for $247,130 for his efforts.

It’s been a hectic Wimbledon for him. He played six matches in the men’s doubles and four in the mixed doubles, reaching the semifinals with Katarina Srebotnik.

‘‘It’s been awesome, it’s been extremely busy but it’s been great,’’ he said.