Venus Williams is back in tennis and wishes Serena would come out of retirement to join the fun
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USA Today
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Jalen Williams pays homage to Kobe Bryant in social media post
A little over a month since they captured an NBA championship, the Oklahoma City Thunder continue to flex their achievement. Hard to blame them, either. When you win a ring, you get an entire summer to run victory laps. While Jalen Williams recovers from wrist surgery, he took to social media to remind folks what he went through. He battled through a torn wrist ligament during the Thunder's playoff run. Williams' postseason journey was highlighted by a 40-point explosion in Game 5 of the 2025 NBA Finals. All without making a peep about the painful injury that required numb shots every pregame. He only talked about after Sam Presti announced the upcoming surgery that'll knock him out until near training camp. Williams posted a side-by-side photo of himself with Kobe Bryant. Both players wore pajamas at the free-throw line with one hand on the ball. The other hand had a wrist wrap around it. The latter's photo was at a 1999 practice when he learned to shoot with one hand after he sustained a hand fracture. Williams has never been shy about his super fandom of Bryant. The Los Angeles Lakers superstar was a generation's favorite player. The 24-year-old was around the age range to see his last best years, so it shouldn't be a shocker to see him have such an influence on the All-NBA player. Now, Williams and Bryant both share something else in common — An NBA championship.
New York Times
26 minutes ago
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Venus Williams' run at Citi Open ends with loss to Magdalena Fręch
In tennis, you win some and you lose some. Some days the ball flies off your racket and you can't miss. Some days, the ball keeps clanking off the frame. After a career that has lasted 30-plus years and is still going, Venus Williams knows this better than most. After winning matches in singles and doubles in a near-perfect start to her first tournament in 16 months, Williams looked every bit of her 45 years on Thursday night at the Citi Open in Washington, D.C., as Magdalena Fręch of Poland beat her 6-2, 6-2 in the Round of 16. Advertisement Williams has lit up this tournament, and she started strong on Thursday, but after four games, she handed Fręch the first service break when Williams knocked a forehand into the net and then sent an easy, short forehand off the court as she charged to the net. She lost the next four games after that, struggling to land her serve consistently and to create any opportunities on her opponent's, as Fręch played steady, big-margin tennis and let Williams do much of her work for her. The loss came a day after Williams and Hailey Baptiste lost in the second round of the doubles, with Taylor Townsend and Zhang Shuai edging them in a match-deciding tiebreak. Despite Thursday's loss, this was a triumphant week for Williams, a seven-time Grand Slam champion who still has plenty of tennis in her hands, though she might have less in her legs. She struggled Thursday night whenever Fręch forced her to move to get to a shot. Still, she became the oldest woman to win a WTA Tour match since Martina Navratilova won one at 47 in 2004. 'Amazing,' Navratilova said of Williams in an interview Thursday. 'I appreciate it so much because I know what it takes.' Navratilova said winning a match after not playing one for 16 months — against the world No. 35 Peyton Stearns, no less — might be even more impressive than winning a match at 45. Navratilova said she continued to play singles sporadically because she was still winning titles in doubles in her mid-40s, and the occasional singles match made her better in doubles. That may be part of Williams' strategy because the Citi Open does not appear to be a one-off. She has received a wild card into the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati, the main tuneup for the U.S. Open, and she has signed on to play mixed doubles at the U.S. Open with Reilly Opelka; One of the two of them can receive a wild card. Williams is both different and the same as the player she once was. She is a big hitter who plays first strike tennis, with a serve that powers the rest of her game. However, she has simplified that service motion, and her groundstrokes are shorter than they once were. When they are working, as they were against Stearns, they found open space all over the court. But they weren't against Fręch, and Williams sprayed more than 30 unforced errors over 16 games. Advertisement Williams received a massive ovation as she left the court at the tennis center that Arthur Ashe, one of her heroes in tennis and life, helped build. Ashe was a trailblazer for Black tennis players, and Williams and her sister, Serena, have followed in his footsteps. By all accounts on a sultry, thick Thursday night in the nation's capital, where she huffed and puffed and fought until the final ball, saving a match point before Fręch finished it by getting one last forehand error from Williams, she's not done blazing them yet. When it was over, Williams sat on her courtside bench with a huge smile, raised her hands and soaked up the love. And then she was off … to what only she knows.
USA Today
an hour ago
- USA Today
Venus Williams' return ends with second-round loss in Citi DC Open
Venus Williams made her return to the tennis court this week after a 16-month absence. The 45-year-old earned a victory in straight sets against 23-year-old opponent, Peyton Stearns, at the Citi DC Open on Tuesday night in Washington D.C. The seven-time Grand Slam champion became the oldest player to win a tour-level singles match since 47-year-old Martina Navratilova defeated Catalina Castano at Wimbledon in 2004. Williams could not overcome 27-year-old Magdalena Frech, 6-2, 6-2, in the second round of the tournament on Thursday, July 24. Williams has not won back-to-back matches since 2019. Did Venus Williams compete in DC Open doubles? Venus Williams and Hailey Baptiste won their first-round match in doubles play on Monday, but the duo fell short of reaching the third round. Williams and Baptiste lost to second-seeded Taylor Townsend and Zhang Shuai, 6-4, 3-6, 10-6, in a champion's tiebreaker on Wednesday, July 23. MORE: Venus Williams' comeback can continue, 45-year-old granted Cincinnati Open wild-card entry Why did Venus Williams take time away from tennis? Williams had taken time away from tennis as she recovered from surgery for uterine fibroids. Williams also confirmed after her win on Tuesday that she's engaged to actor Andrea Preti. 'My fiancé is here, and he really encouraged me to keep playing,' Williams told Rennae Stubbs after the match. It was the first time Preti had seen her play.
