By Frank Malley, PA Chief Sports Writer

Six years ago Richard Williams, with a matter of factness which was as scary as it was precise, predicted his two daughters would dominate the world of tennis.

When Venus and Serena walk out on Wimbledon's Centre Court on Saturday to contest their third Grand Slam final in little more than nine months, no-one could dispute that the prophecy has not been well and truly fulfilled.

Venus won the US Open on the hard courts of Flushing Meadows last September amid a whirl of Hollywood glitz; Serena triumphed on the red clay of Roland Garros in the French Open in straight sets last month.

Now they have dismissed all-comers on the only remaining surface, the hallowed grass of Wimbledon, to confirm their domination.

Dad Richard will not be on Centre Court on Saturday, he's home in the United States - mum Oracene, the two are separated, having accompanied the Williamses to Wimbledon this year.

For Richard, coach, mentor and protective father, the job has been done.

And love or hate the eccentric, opinionated leader of the Williams clan, with his ever-present camera and ready one-liners you have to concede he has done a pretty good job.

When you consider some of the heartbreaking burn-outs that have scarred the women's game over the last 20 years - Andrea Jaegar, Tracy Austin, Jennifer Capriati in her days of rebellion to name but three - the Williamses have much for which to thank their parents after rising from the Californian ghetto of Compton.

Unlike many of today's pushy parents who see their talented offspring as a meal ticket for life they held back Venus and Serena, not forcing them to play in tournament after tournament at an age when their bodies and minds were still racked with growing pains. They allowed the girls to have fun.

"Why rush it and tear it up and burn it out?" was Richard's philosophy. "Why have them out there at three years old, four years old, every day?

"When Venus was four and I learned how much she loved the game we took off for a year and wouldn't let her play, no matter what she said. When I found her out there hitting, I took the racket and broke it up.

"When I went to different places to train they wanted Venus to practise all day, drop out of school and all that. We said no.

"If you look at all the players like Hingis, the Russian girl (Anna Kournikova) and all girls that came out (on tour), where they should be flourishing now they're not. They're beginning to taper off.

"Venus and Serena will improve a lot more. I think that's because of all that rest, the time to go to different places, to go to Knott's Berry Farm and Disneyland and go visit relatives in Michigan.

"So now they have their life and when they need to play they're ready to play."

It has not, of course, been perfect, especially these past two years which have been filled with triumphs, injury, controversy and the break-up of Richard and Oracene's marriage. There was also a short-lived police investigation into possible physical abuse which was denied by the family.

On top of that there have been continuous rumours and doubts concerning the authenticity of the matches when the girls have played each other.

At Indian Wells last year they were booed and suffered racial abuse after Venus pulled out of their semi-final encounter, purportedly with a knee injury.

At Wimbledon in 2000 they played a semi-final so tentative and disjointed it fuelled rumours that Richard had decreed Venus should be the first to reach a Wimbledon final.

The truth was perhaps more in the fact that the younger Serena was overawed by the occasion, as appeared to be the case last September at Flushing Meadows in a match surrounded by Hollywood razzmatazz and before which Diana Ross sang 'God Bless America' and hugged the two sisters.

Again Venus coped better with the attention.

Suspicions of collusion have always been dismissed by the sisters with undisguised contempt.

"The bottom line is we're both competitors, we both want to be number one and want to do the best we can. We're both of age and no-one makes decisions for us," says Serena.

"My dad has always made Venus and I call our own shots. Even now he makes us schedule our own tournaments. He never tells us what to play."

Venus also insisted that there had never been any discussion over who should win.

"I have nothing to prove in my life, all I have to do is live and pay my taxes," she says.

"I take pride in my sport and in my performance and I am appalled that anyone would think that we would not be trying."

On current form there could be little between the pair in the final.

Venus, bidding to win the title for the third year running, has the experience. Serena possesses the momentum of having won the French and enjoys the form of her life.

Each one is comfortably several leagues superior than their nearest rivals, a fact which has sparked the inevitable 'Williamses are bad for tennis' debate, plus some less than magnanimous comments from Amelie Mauresmo after she was summarily dispatched by Serena in the semis.

The fact is they dominate because they work harder, run faster and serve harder than all their opponents. If it is not always a thing of beauty then they cannot be criticised for that.

"This was something they've achieved through a lifetime of work," explains mum Oracene.

"It's the real deal. It's like no-one knew the impact Ali made until it registered in the history books.

"I'm not surprised. This is what was expected of them. I've never allowed words like 'can't' and 'pressure' into their vocabulary. I knew they would get to this place."

Ali is a pretty powerful comparison - but then the family Williams are indisputably tennis' greatest phenomenon.