Trying to get 9,000 people out on a Monday lunchtime to watch a game of doubles sounds like an unforced error. But Venus and Serena Williams made it into a winner, attracting such a giant crocodile of spectators that the tail was still straggling into the grounds half an hour after the match had started.

The air reverberated with calls and cackles and the umpire had to ask the crowd to be quiet when Venus was attempting to serve. When a Mexican wave went three times around the court, members of the royal box joined in twice.

It was a younger, livelier and more unpredictable audience - of the kind that needs attracting in greater numbers onto tennis courts if the British game is to be dragged from the mire. If the rain that is becoming synonymous with Wimbledon achieves anything good, it is that this people's-day atmosphere reminded us that things can be different.

The Williams sisters clearly loved it. They smiled as they entered, looked happy throughout, hit the ball like thunder and chatted almost every other point. Oh, and they won: 6-3, 6-2. Though their opponents Julie Halard-Decugis and Ai Sugiyama often played the better-organised game, it was never likely to influence the outcome. It only increased the chances of having their heads taken off when they came courageously to the net.

The carnival lasted 70 minutes but it might have been quicker. Venus dropped her first two service games and once made a ball roll across the court by bouncing it inadvertently on to her toe, as though her thoughts were still focused on the Champions' Ball and not the one in her hand.

It probably was. "We got back at 2 a.m. and Dad had left," the Wimbledon champion giggled. "So Serena took over as Dad. She told me, `You'd better go to bed as soon as possible'."

Venus hadn't been able to dance with Pete Sampras, who arrived at 12.20 a.m. and stayed only about 15 minutes, although the lavender-coloured dress she had taken an age to fit still brought a sparkle to her eyes when she recalled it.

But when Halard-Decugis narrowly failed to hold serve for 4-2 the match changed character. Venus produced a thunderous interception to hasten the break back, Serena's fierce driving nearly lifted the net players off their feet as the sisters broke for 5-3, and Venus served out the set, ending with a theatrical clash of rackets on a winning volley.

Eight games in a row rushed the Williams' way, launching them towards the victory that may heal all wounds. "We are even now," said Serena, the loser of their Thursday encounter. "The best thing about being champion is not losing," said Venus. "There are too many emotions in losing; more than in winning."

The £88,035 sterling each player won made Venus the highest earner of the tournament, her combined prize money rising to £40,000 sterling more than the £477,500 sterling that Sampras won for winning the men's singles. Most leading men find five sets of doubles and singles too much, sometimes an overlooked complication to the equal prize-money debate.

The gate takings for the two short sets came to an astounding £26,750 sterling, which will be given to Cliff Richard's Kids on Court charity for youngsters in inner cities. The Lawn Tennis Association announced the Williamses had agreed to make a video to also help that charity. "The door now is open for them to come over here and help us in the future," said an LTA spokesman. Nice thought.

Within an hour of the finish the rain came in torrents, prompting the annual question as to whether Wimbledon should have a roof. Had the final begun at the usual centre-court start time of 2 p.m. we might have been going to a third Tuesday - after Sampras and Patrick Rafter were delayed for almost three hours during a men's singles final which was only completed in the late-evening gloom.

Some of these problems had already been brought to the attention of the All England club's chief executive Chris Gorringe, who denied a roof would be possible in the next two years. The club has, however, been looking at feasibility.

Court Number One is said to be capable of withstanding such a structure, and last month three committee members travelled to Germany to look at the grass-court roof in Halle. Live television is a key to the long-term prosperity of the sport and it may one day dictate that there is a roof.