LONDON -- Venus Williams sighed at the reporters question.After getting to her first Wimbledon semifinal since 2009, and first at any Grand Slam tournament since a year later, she was asked what she learned in recent times, while dealing with an energy-sapping disease and a series of earlier-than-usual exits from majors.Its hard to say just one lesson, she began. Its easy to be afraid; you have to let fear go. Another lesson is you just have to believe in yourself. You just have to. Theres no way around it. Youve got to believe in yourself. No matter how things are stacked against you, you just have to, every time.Williams never lost that belief, the self-confidence that she still could compete at the highest level, the certainty that it made no sense to give up, to retire from the tour.The good part is, I always felt like I had the game. This is always a plus, when you know you have the game, said Williams, who owns seven Grand Slam titles, including five at the All England Club, but none since 2008. So you just have to keep working until things fall into place.At age 36, they have.On Friday at Wimbledon, Williams will meet No. 4-seeded Angelique Kerber of Germany for a berth in the final. Kerber has won three of their previous five matchups.The American is the oldest woman to participate in a major semifinal since Martina Navratilova did it at Wimbledon in 1994 at age 37.Its nice to see, because she puts in the work, said David Witt, Williams coach. She hasnt been back, but not because of her play. Any given tournament, shes capable of beating anybody in the tournament. Its just a matter of winning six, seven matches in a row and keeping your level of play at a high level.Someone who knows all about that is Williams younger sister, No. 1-seeded Serena, who faces 50th-ranked Elena Vesnina in Fridays other semifinal. If Vesnina -- who has never so much as taken a set off Serena in five previous meetings -- were to pull off the upset, she would be the first unseeded woman to reach the Wimbledon final in the Open era, which began in 1968.The 29-year-old Russian had never been past the fourth round at a major before this week.Serena, meanwhile, is bidding for her seventh Wimbledon championship and, of even more significance, her 22nd Grand Slam trophy overall, which would equal Steffi Graf for the most in the Open era (Margaret Court holds the all-time mark of 24).Serena has come close to drawing even with Graf before: At the U.S. Open last September, she lost to Roberta Vinci in the semifinals while aiming for a calendar-year Grand Slam; at the Australian Open in January, she lost to Kerber in the final; at the French Open in June, she lost to Garbine Muguruza in the final.Way back in 1999, the Williams sisters both reached the semifinals of the U.S. Open. Now here they are, almost 17 full years later, both in the semifinals of a Grand Slam tournament for the 11th time. On all 10 previous occasions, one or the other took home the trophy.If both win Thursday, they would play each other on Saturday in what would be the siblings ninth meeting in a Grand Slam final and fifth at Wimbledon.For Serena, it would mean shes participated in the last three major title matches, seven of the past eight.For Venus, it would be her first Grand Slam final since 2009, when she lost at Wimbledon to -- guess who? -- Serena.With everything shes been through, I think its built a ton of character in her, Serena said, and in me, just by being around her.---Follow Howard Fendrich on Twitter at http://twitter.com/HowardFendrich Cheap Shoes Canada . -- Anaheim Ducks captain and leading scorer Ryan Getzlaf has been scratched from Sunday nights game against the Vancouver Canucks because of an upper-body injury. Wholesale Under Armour Canada .C. -- Charlotte Bobcats coach Steve Clifford said after all of these years in the NBA hes still amazed at some of the things LeBron James does. http://www.discountunderarmourcanada.com/ . Each of Houstons starters scored in double figures as the Rockets improved to 2-0 against the Spurs this season, with both victories coming on the road. They also moved within 3 1/2 games of San Antonio (22-7) for the lead the Southwest Division. Clearance Under Armour Canada Online . Instead of dwelling on the negative, Oates focused on what was good about the clubs recent play. It worked. Under Armour Shoes Canada . - Chris Tierney snapped a tie with a power-play goal late in the third period as the London Knights rallied from a 3-0 deficit to beat the Erie Otters 5-3 in Ontario Hockey League action on Wednesday. Bernie Ecclestone says he does not envy the job Ferrari team principal Maurizio Arrivabene faces in turning the Italian team around.After winning three races last year, Ferrari came into this season hoping to challenge Mercedes for the championship. However, after 19 races the team is still waiting on its first victory of 2016 and sits a distant third behind Red Bull in the constructors championship.All I hope is that Ferrari get their act together and start winning races, Ecclestone told Formula Ones official website.Probably what Maurizio desperately needs is a good back-up support like Mercedes have got, for example, he added. If he had the support that Mercedes has, they would win races -- for sure. I am also sure that you will see a different Ferrari next year.ddddddddddddEcclestone compares Ferraris current set up to the one that Jean Todt took over 1993, which took seven years to turn into a title winning team.When I got Jean Todt to take his position and go to Maranello -- which was a bit of a risk for Jean to do -- it was an all-Italian team and they were a bit concerned about taking a foreigner. But I told them: when you win the championship you sure will find ancestry in Jeans family that comes from Sicily.Now it has gone back to being a very Italian team again. And it is run like an Italian team. So I dont envy Maurizios job. I wouldnt want to do it. ' ' '