Venus wows in WTA comeback match, at 45

Hindustan Times

5 days ago

Mumbai: Those sizzling serves were back. So was the fiery competitiveness. And, of course, that signature wave-and-twirl sign-off. Venus Williams celebrates her win over Peyton Stearns during a match at the Washington Open. (AP)
That's because Venus Williams was back. Playing, at times, like she hadn't left.
She had, though, for a long time. So long that the WTA website, which had listed her playing status as 'inactive', doesn't list a ranking for the former world No.1. Activated and unranked, Williams turned up for her first singles match in 16 months and walked off having beaten a player ranked 35. At age 45.
She can still fill up seats, as the packed main court for her Tuesday evening match at the WTA 500 Citi Open in Washington showed. She can still serve big, as her nine aces and 71% first serve points won showed. She can still be good enough to beat an opponent nearly half her age, as her 6-3, 6-4 victory over 23-year-old Peyton Stearns showed. The seven-time Grand Slam singles champion has won 818 WTA singles matches in a career that began at 14, yet this one at 45 was special.
It made her the oldest player to win a tour level singles match since a 47-year-old Martina Navratilova at the 2004 Wimbledon. It came after she last played a singles match in March 2024, staying away while undergoing surgery for her long-standing struggles with uterine fibroids. It gave her the first victory in singles since August 2023, when she beat the then world No.16 Veronika Kudermetova in Cincinnati.
Two years apart, Williams can still take down top-50 players on her day.
'Going into the match, I know I have the ability to win. But it's all about actually winning,' she said. And she was out there to actually win, not merely turn up for a touch of nostalgia.
The tournament organisers handing her a wildcard raised eyebrows, but Williams had buckled down to train for this comeback. She had some weeks when she didn't know 'if I'm good enough yet', and some where she felt she'd taken a 'leap forward'.
Come the day, she marched ahead turning back the clock not only on her serving and power game but also movement. Ahead of the match, Williams had promised to stick to her 'brand' of tennis ('I hit big'), and she did.
Stearns, born the same year in which Williams captured her fourth singles Slam, tested her early on. Williams was up for it. Late in the second set, Williams also produced a wonderful lob at the back end of a bruising baseline tussle.
'She played some ball tonight,' Stearns said. 'She was moving really well, which I wasn't expecting too much, honestly.'
This was no exhibition of a champion past her prime, this was serious business by a champion still up for a fight.
And that also holds its charm in elite sport that loves its breakthrough tales.
'There are no limits for excellence,' Williams said. 'It's all about what's in your head and how much you're able to put into it. If you put in the work mentally, physically, and emotionally, then you can have the result.'
Williams had the result she sought on her comeback. Would this be a one-off sighting, or does she see herself carrying on in singles (she also played, and won, doubles this week) for longer? The 45-year-old, who faces a stiffer test next up in Polish fifth seed Magdalena Frech, has those answers, even if she doesn't wish to blurt it out yet.
'I'm just here for now,' Williams said, 'and, who knows, maybe there's more.'
Her return to playing wasn't the only news -- her engagement to Italian actor-producer Andrea Preti, 37 drew wider attention.