Wimbledon, England — One never knows what to expect from Venus Williams. Ten years ago, when the world had its first glimpse of her, it wasn’t unreasonable to think that she would win a dozen major titles. no one served like her, no one hit the ball as hard, no one ran the way she could run. Years later, no one seemed as vulnerable, whether it was against her younger , hungrier sister, Serena, or some teenager willing to wait for Venus to shank enough forehands and whack enough double faults into the net.

Not many greats in women’s tennis have carved a path like Williams: win multiple major titles in a year, struggle for three years, win another major, play poorly for another two years, and then rise to the top again. As it turns out, Williams just might have another major in her. Serena, the Australian open champion who arrived at Wimbledon with a boastful attitude and favorable odds of winning the title, is gone after a 6–4, 3–6, 6–3 quarterfinal loss to Justine Henin, the top seed. Venus, improbably, is on the upswing.

Days after playing a miserable match against an inferior opponent, the 27-year-old American swept aside Maria Sharapova, the no. 2 player in the world, as easily as she might have a 16-year-old rookie, 6–1, 6–3. Venus walloped one serve after another, averaging 115 mph. Neither sun, wind, nor a two-hour rain delay could break her concentration, or stop her from cracking forehand winners. Venus never faced a break point and won more than half the points on Sharapova’s serve. Two years ago, when she won her third title here, she routed Sharapova in the semifinals. This year she looks even better.

As surprising as this might have been to fans seated inside Centre Court, it didn’t startle Richard Williams. Her father and coach has remained particularly bullish on Venus over the years, even when he’s criticized her tactics, as he did earlier in the week, or wondered about her desire.

“I don’t think you’ve seen the best of Venus,” he said as he smoked his customary post-match cigarette. “I think what you’re seeing today is just a tip of the iceberg.”

Richard said Venus might have championship potential until age 33 or 34, like Martina Navratilova .

“How much does Venus really want it?” he asked. “because if Venus wants it, you can’t outhit her, you can’t out-serve her.”

There’s little doubt how much Henin wants to win here. A Wimbledon title would complete her major collection and reinforce her position as the no. 1 player in the world. Henin, whose record is 38–3 this year, reached the final of all four majors last year; if she wins this title, she could claim a stretch of six major titles in which she at least reached the final, no small feat.

She hardly played her best against Serena, who wore a wrap on her injured left calf and tape on her left thumb, which she sprained during a fall, she said, in her dramatic rain-delayed victory over Daniela Hantuchova (the injury caused Serena and Venus to withdraw from the doubles tournament yesterday). Henin double faulted seven times and missed half her first serves, yet had enough touch, and spin on a few well-placed backhands, to win.

Henin next faces surprise semifinalist marion bartoli, the no. 18 seed from France. The 22-year-old had never won more than two rounds at a major before this tournament, where she upset Jelena Jankovic, the no. 3 seed, and yesterday defeated Michaella Krajicek, the half-sister of 1996 Wimbledon champion Richard Krajicek. The rain has disrupted the tournament so much that their semifinal match was postponed until Friday. Henin ought to make the final for the second straight year; Venus returns to the court today against Svetlana Kuznetsova in the quarterfinals. Will she find her way to another final, or fizzle?

I don’t say ‘if’ Venus gets to the final,” Richard Williams said. “Venus will [go] to the final.”

While the women’s draw has taken shape, there’s a lot of tennis remaining on the men’s side — and the forecast calls for more “unsettled” weather, as the folks at Wimbledon often say. The top half of the draw will play quarterfinal matches, originally scheduled for Wednesday, today. The bottom half still has to play the fourth round.

Rafael Nadal remains among the eight men at the bottom, one of whom will play four matches in the next four days, unless the rain postpones Sunday’s final until monday.

It took Nadal five days, and seven rain delays, to win a third round match that would have ended on monday had he subtracted an inch from the easy forehand he missed on match point. What was nearly a simple victory over Robin Soderling turned into a testy contest between two players who won’t be seen clinking glasses in the player’s lounge.

Nadal plays slowly and his habits — fixing his socks, arranging water bottles, adjusting his shorts, asking for time at the slightest murmur from the crowd when his opponent prepares to serve — are well known. Soderling, a hard serving Swede, mocked him, at one point giving the back of his shorts an exaggerated tug and often pumping his fists as nadal does. The rain taunted them both and Tuesday evening, after play had been called , a rainbow appeared over the All England Club, followed by a final, parting insult: an hour of sun.

Nadal played some shaky points down the stretch, but prevailed yesterday as the clouds threatened again. After a tepid handshake, Nadal and Soderling let the barbs fly in their press conferences.

“After four days, that’s not normal, no?” Nadal said of Soderling’s curt goodbye. He criticized Sodernadal plays Mikhail Youzhny, the dangerous Russian who beat Nadal at last year’s U.S. open, today. If the weather holds, Andy Roddick, who hasn’t lost a set this tournament, would play Richard Gasquet for a spot in the semifinals.

Then there’s Roger Federer, the four-time defending champion, no. 1 seed, and so far this year, forgotten man. If Federer takes the court against Juan Carlos Ferrero for their quarterfinal match, look carefully and see if the world no. 1 has a tan. He hasn’t played since Friday and no one would have been the wiser if he had decided to fly off to the Caribbean for a few days.

Welcome to the wettest Wimbledon ever, summed up best, perhaps, by the receipts from the Wimbledon shop. It has sold 6,000 umbrellas so far — and has another 5,000 in stock.

tperrotta@nysun.com