{"id":37196,"date":"2025-07-25T21:02:08","date_gmt":"2025-07-25T21:02:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/37196\/"},"modified":"2025-07-25T21:02:08","modified_gmt":"2025-07-25T21:02:08","slug":"the-most-astonishing-part-of-venus-williams-comeback-at-45","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/37196\/","title":{"rendered":"The most astonishing part of Venus Williams\u2019 comeback at 45."},"content":{"rendered":"

WASHINGTON\u2014Venus Williams\u2019 first match back on the WTA Tour after a 16-month hiatus was something between a sporting event and a tent revival. With every seat filled around the court where the 45-year-old Williams was playing doubles, I camped out underneath a canopy on the top row of the stadium next door. On a scorching Monday afternoon at the DC Open, I wasn\u2019t alone in trying to get a bird\u2019s-eye view of the tennis legend in our midst. Unlike NBA star and D.C. native Kevin Durant<\/a>, not everyone was fortunate enough to nab front-row seats. The father of local favorite Frances Tiafoe was at the top of the stands one court over with me, and we were both ignoring the singles match being played behind us. (Sorry, Reilly Opelka and Murphy Cassone!)<\/p>\n

Stars will draw huge crowds, even for doubles.<\/p>\n

And Venus, a planetary star like none other still in orbit, still has quite the gravitational pull today in Washington. pic.twitter.com\/Cj1d3uoG1b<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Ben Rothenberg (@BenRothenberg) July 21, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n

Williams\u2019 return as an active player began with a robot line judge calling her for a foot fault<\/a>\u2014a sentence that wouldn\u2019t have been comprehensible when she made her pro debut 31 years ago (and, to be fair, doesn\u2019t entirely make sense now). It ended with a sight that felt familiar yet exhilarating: a smashed backhand return<\/a> that her opponent couldn\u2019t handle, followed by a trademark wave and victory twirl.<\/p>\n

In Washington this week, in both victory and defeat, Venus Williams has looked like Venus Williams. The seven-time Grand Slam champ, four-time Olympic gold medalist, and all-around American icon has also sounded more confident, content, and unrestrained than she\u2019s ever been.<\/p>\n

It all started before she took the court. In her first media availability in D.C., Williams\u2014who throughout her decadeslong career has typically been reticent with the press\u2014opened up about her health (she recently revealed<\/a> that she had surgery last year to remove uterine fibroids), her expectations (\u201cI\u2019m a big hitter. I hit big. This is my brand\u201d), her younger sister Serena (\u201cI keep saying to my team, the only thing that would make this better is if she was here\u201d). When asked about her motivation to come back, Williams was more cryptic, answering a reporter\u2019s \u201cWhy?\u201d with a simple, smiling \u201cWhy not?\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

As Ben Rothenberg noted<\/a> in his newsletter Bounces, the veteran tennis journalists in the room came away thinking it might\u2019ve been the best press conference she\u2019d ever given. And for Williams, all it took to win over the media was being herself. But winning on tour in her mid-40s, 17 years after her most recent Wimbledon title, would require a throwback performance, something it wasn\u2019t clear that she was capable of producing. Her previous WTA match, in March 2024, was a straight-sets loss. Her prior Grand Slam match, at the 2023 U.S. Open, ended in a crushing 6\u20131, 6\u20131 first-round defeat to a Belgian qualifier.<\/p>\n

Mark Ein, the owner of the DC Open, told me he\u2019s reached out to Williams over the years to gauge her interest in playing in the tournament as a wild card<\/a>. But this year, it was Williams who reached out to him to see if that offer was still on the table. He told her that it was. \u201cAnd then, two weeks ago, she confirmed she was ready,\u201d Ein said. Although he took some criticism for giving a 45-year-old an opportunity that might be better utilized by an up-and-coming player, Ein said, \u201cmy view was that if Venus Williams tells me she\u2019s ready to compete, then I\u2019m going to take her at her word.\u201d<\/p>\n

That doubles match, in which Williams played alongside D.C. native Hailey Baptiste, proved that her big-hitting brand was still intact. But singles is a different sport, requiring a different level of mobility. On the men\u2019s side, there\u2019s only one fortysomething, 40-year-old Stan Wawrinka, who\u2019s currently ranked in the top 1,000. On the women\u2019s side, there\u2019s no one. At least, there wasn\u2019t until Williams took on Peyton Stearns on Tuesday night.<\/p>\n

Williams started out that match in the least auspicious way possible, losing four points in a row on her own serve. When she hit a backhand long to drop the game, she looked befuddled, as if the ball weren\u2019t following her very clear orders. Then, suddenly, it started to listen\u2014and the crowd began to roar.<\/p>\n

The first point of the next game ended with a scorching forehand winner down the line. Soon, Williams had broken back. And she was chasing down drop shots<\/a>, clocking serves, and bashing groundstrokes around and through her overwhelmed 23-year-old opponent, who happens to be ranked No. 35 in the world.<\/p>\n

After an hour and 37 minutes, it was over: a 6\u20133, 6\u20134 win for the 45-year-old, making her the oldest woman since Martina Navratilova<\/a> in 2004 to win a main-tour singles match. A few minutes later, she likely became the first player to exclaim, while laughing, in a postvictory interview, \u201cI had to come back for the insurance, because they informed me earlier this year that I\u2019m on COBRA!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI came back to get my insurance benefits\u201d \ud83d\ude02@Venuseswilliams<\/a> with some absolutely gems during her on-court interview!#MubadalaCitiDCOpen<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/r4Cha0XATG<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Mubadala Citi DC Open (@mubadalacitidc) July 23, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n

Given her success in pushing Grand Slams to offer equal prize money<\/a> for women, perhaps Williams\u2019 next move will be leading the charge for health care reform. (Bernie Sanders would approve<\/a>.) But throughout her life, on her own and alongside her sister, she\u2019s just as often led by example: as a Black woman in a country club sport, as an unapologetic champion, and as an athlete with interests and expertise that extend well beyond tennis. Now, as a middle-aged woman in a game in which youth is almost always served, her resistance to timelines inspired everyone from Coco Gauff<\/a> to Billie Jean King<\/a>. And on the grounds at the DC Open\u2014an event that Williams\u2019 doubles teammate Hailey Baptiste rightly called \u201cthe Blackest tournament on tour\u201d\u2014her mere presence was cause for exultation.<\/p>\n

During her second-round match on Thursday night against Poland\u2019s Magdalena Frech, the crowd cheered when she got out of her chair, when she won a point, and\u2014sometimes\u2014when it looked as if she might win a point. (In the middle of the second set, the chair umpire had to make an announcement: No crying out while the ball is still in play.) The man sitting in front of me was capturing the entire thing on FaceTime, streaming the match for a fan who couldn\u2019t be there. When Williams hit a forehand winner, someone shouted, \u201cLove you, V!\u201d as if it wasn\u2019t already obvious.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

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This time, Williams\u2019 27-year-old opponent wasn\u2019t overwhelmed by the moment. Williams\u2019 legs were also looking heavier, and her first serve never really popped. In the end, it was a straightforward victory for Frech, 6\u20132, 6\u20132, albeit one that ended with the losing player doing her trademark victory twirl, acknowledging both the crowd and the audacity of her still-active playing career.<\/p>\n

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In the pressroom afterward, Williams admitted that she \u201cran out of gas\u201d after playing four matches in four days. (The previous afternoon, she had lost her second-round doubles match<\/a> in a third-set tiebreak.) \u201cI don\u2019t know what match I would have played tomorrow,\u201d she said. \u201cHopefully I would have had enough time to recover and do it again. We\u2019ll never know. In some alternate universe, I won this match.\u201d<\/p>\n

In this universe, she plans to keep on playing, with a live ranking that\u2019s now in the top 650<\/a> and on the rise. Her next stop will be the Cincinnati Open in early August, then the U.S. Open, where she is on the entry list for the mixed doubles event<\/a> and (I\u2019m guessing) will get a wild card to play singles. Looking forward, she said, \u201cI know exactly what I need to work on, where I can improve. The good news is I\u2019m always in control of the point.\u201d<\/p>\n

When the night was over, Ein, the tournament owner, delighted in what she\u2019d done and what he\u2019d seen. \u201cShe came out here and she was playing at a world-class level,\u201d he said. \u201cSo everyone who wasn\u2019t sure they were gonna give her a wild card now has decided they want to do it. And that\u2019s great.\u201d<\/p>\n

And what if Serena Williams, now 43, called him up next year to say she wanted to join the party and get a wild card herself? \u201cShe\u2019s got it,\u201d Ein said. \u201c100 percent.\u201d<\/p>\n

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