For a minute there, it was just like old times \u2013 with the high stakes and the capacity crowd and the Venus Williams on court. After Aryna Sabalenk\u2019s singles match ended in a walkover on Tuesday, Williams\u2019s doubles quarter-final was bumped into primetime on Louis Armstrong Stadium to fill the hole in the schedule. And when Williams took the court with partner Leylah Fernandez in her black pleated dress and matching visor as the sun dipped toward the horizon, she looked for all the world like a woman determined to turn back time. Unfortunately for her, Fernandez and the throng that gathered to cheer them on, their opponents were keen to skip forward.<\/p>\n
Katerina Siniakova and Taylor Townsend didn\u2019t just cut the nostalgia trip short. Quite emphatically, they illustrated the difference between Williams and Fernandez, the doubles pairing out there for funsies, and themselves \u2013 the team that\u2019s truly in it to win it. The top seeds\u2019 beat Williams-Fernandez 6-2, 6-1 in just under just an hour. Siniakova and Townsend won all their service games, controlled the net and broke Williams and Fernandez at will \u2013 they beat \u2018em up so bad they practically apologized for it afterward.<\/p>\n
In the post-match interview, Siniakova called it a \u201cprivilege\u201d to play Williams, \u201ca legend\u201d she last played in 2017 \u2013 a second-round loss at the Canadian Open. \u201cI remember I loved her back-out Reebok dress,\u201d Townsend added. \u201cThat was what drew me to tennis. It was the cute outfits. Growing up watching Venus and Serena, [they] had always been, for me and my sister, an inspiration and we really wanted to be like them when we grew up.\u201d<\/p>\n
There were no hard feelings on the other side. There never are with Williams, a trailblazer who still radiates with class and grace even at this intriguing late career stage. For hardcore fans who have been following the 21-time grand slam champion since the mid-1990s, the bonus time with Williams is something to savor because we don\u2019t know how much longer it will last. Personally, I can remember covering this tournament 20 years ago when Williams used to talk about watching DVDs of the Fresh Prince to break up the monotony between practices and weather-induced match delays. \u201cDVD?\u201d she joked when I brought this up on Tuesday night. \u201cI don\u2019t know what he\u2019s talking about. He\u2019s older than me.\u201d<\/p>\n
But she remembered. \u201cMy dad only let us watch educational programs growing up, so I never really got to see The Fresh Prince until I grew up. It was, like, major for me as a 20-year-old to watch that, but it never gets old.\u201d<\/p>\n
No one could have known that that same Fresh Prince actor would play her father someday. \u201cWill Smith is a legend,\u201d she continued.\u201d The fact that he did such an honor to play my dad, and he took it \u2013 you can\u2019t understand how seriously he took it. He really put his whole life into it, and he got rewarded for it too. In turn, we all got rewarded for it. I have so much respect for him.\u201d<\/p>\n
As for the casual fans born in this century? Most have gone their entire life without seeing Williams make history at Wimbledon, grab the No 1 ranking and dominate the sport until her younger sister Serena snatched the baton. That Venus is even still out here grinding on the women\u2019s tour at age 45 while Serena has settled into retired life as a mother of two and a Super Bowl pop-out<\/a> is striking. Big sister wasn\u2019t supposed to be the one who switched off the lights.<\/p>\n Venus\u2019s unconventional relationship with tennis always made it seem as if she could take or leave the sport at any moment. She didn\u2019t play juniors before turning pro at 14 and played the women\u2019s tour at her own pace instead of to protect her ranking. Amid years of injury struggles, she has had to further contend with Sj\u00f6gren\u2019s syndrome<\/a> \u2013 a chronic autoimmune disorder known for its energy-sapping qualities.<\/p>\n Fans show their appreciation at Flushing Meadows. Photograph: Elsa\/Getty Images<\/p>\n These days the ferocious power and court-covering elasticity are diminished to the point of leaving her struggling to survive the early rounds of tournaments. For this year\u2019s US Open, she was lucky to receive a wildcard. (\u201cI\u2019m so thankful to the USTA for supporting me and my effort here,\u201d she said after Tuesday\u2019s match. \u201cIt would have not been possible without them and them believing in me to be out here.\u201d) Ten, 15 years ago? She could have easily called time on her career with public support on her side. And had she done so, you can imagine the USTA struggling to choose between honoring her or Althea Gibson at this year\u2019s US Open.<\/p>\n Instead, Williams effectively kicked off the festivities on Arthur Ashe Stadium, the center court that has long been her main stage. She played mixed doubles with fellow American Reilly Opelka and hung with 11th-seeded Karolina Muchov\u00e1 for two hours until she lost that first-round singles match in three sets. Despite her impressive resume, Williams has never been a natural doubles player. As long as her sister was with her on court, she only had to cover the alleys, watch Serena serve and let their awesome tandem power take care of the rest.<\/p>\n