Venus Williams has revealed that she was inspired to her Wimbledon final appearance by her most recent car insurance quote.

Speaking after finishing runner up, Ms Williams 37, told the Herald,

“Yeah it’s good right now. I wanted to win but it wasn’t to be. It’s been a rough couple of months with the whole car crash thing hanging over me. It’s been good to get away and getting so far is fantastic. I wasn’t sure I’d ever make another slam final so to be in a final is just great.”

Speaking of the crash she said, “I’ve been found to be not at fault but I’ve lost my no claims bonus plus I had to claim for a repair job on an SUV. It’s not cheap. My insurance is up next month and I thought I’d just see what it would cost to renew.

To get fully comprehensive insurance it’s going cost $800,000. I like to pay in one go so I know that’s it for the year and you get a better deal. It’s pretty much why I needed to get to the finals of this tournament.”

Ms Williams said the insurance quote had replaced the motivation she usually takes from her sister. “Yeah, we usually support each other but she’s away creating life whilst I’ve been involving myself in stuff that takes life so I needed something else for motivation.”

Ms Williams also denied rumours that she has been hired to be the new face of Scottish Widows insurance. She described a video of her driving towards a crossroads soundtracked to a Heart power ballad and a Scottish Widows logo flashed in the background as being a lie.

Scottish Widows have also denied the existence of such an advertisement.

Fact checked by Snopes; Plagiarised by Andrew Neil; Nancy Sinatra's favourite Rochdale satirist; sued by Chris Froome and winner of the 1922 Nobel Prize for Chemistry.* *Not all of these necessarily true.