Venus Williams needed to ship a message — to herself and to others — about getting back from a protracted layoff, about competing in a sport at age 45, about by no means giving up. Sure, there was one thing particular about simply being again on a tennis court docket Tuesday night time.
There additionally was this: She actually, actually needed to win.
And Williams did simply that, turning into the second-oldest girl to win a tour-level singles match in skilled tennis, delivering a few of her acquainted huge serves and groundstrokes at age 45 whereas beating Peyton Stearns — 22 years her junior — by a 6-3, 6-4 rating on the DC Open.
“Every week that I used to be coaching, I used to be, like, ‘Oh, my God, I don’t know if I’m ok but.’ After which there could be weeks the place I might leap ahead. And there could be two weeks the place I used to be, like, ‘Oh, God, it’s not occurring.’ Even the week main up, (I believed), ‘Oh, my gosh, I want to enhance a lot extra.’ So it’s all a head recreation,” Williams stated after her first singles match in additional than a yr and first singles victory in practically two.
Navratilova is the one girl older than Williams to win a singles match
The one older girl to win a tour-level singles match was Martina Navratilova, whose final triumph got here at 47 in 2004.
The previous No. 1-ranked Williams had not performed singles in an official match since March 2024 in Miami, lacking time whereas having surgical procedure to take away uterine fibroids. She hadn’t gained in singles since August 2023 in Cincinnati. Till this week, she was listed by the WTA Tour as “inactive.”
“I’m simply always praying for good well being, in order that method I may have a chance to play with good well being,” Williams stated. “Numerous this for me is having the ability to come again and attempt to play at a degree (and) to play wholesome.”
Venus Williams gained 4 Grand Slam titles earlier than Peyton Stearns was born
Backed by a crowd that clearly was there to see, and help, her on the hard-court match within the nation’s capital, Williams confirmed glimpses of the expertise she possesses and the abilities she displayed whereas incomes all of her Grand Slam titles: seven in singles, 14 in girls’s doubles — all alongside youthful sister Serena — and two in blended doubles.
“I needed to play a very good match,” Williams informed the followers, then added a phrase that drew appreciative roars: “and win the match.”
In Tuesday’s second recreation, Williams smacked a return winner to get issues began, then delivered a few different huge responses to interrupt Stearns, a 23-year-old who gained singles and group NCAA titles on the College of Texas and is presently ranked thirty fifth.
Within the subsequent recreation, Williams sprinted ahead to succeed in a drop shot and replied with a forehand winner.
The primary refrain of cheers arrived when Williams walked out into the primary stadium on the DC Open, a 7,000-seat enviornment that’s greater than twice as giant as the place she was for her doubles victory a day earlier. One other got here when she strode from the sideline to the middle of the court docket for the coin toss. The noise reached a crescendo when Williams started hitting aces — at 110 mph and sooner — the best way she used to.
Take into account: Williams gained 4 Grand Slam trophies earlier than Stearns was born.
Venus Williams hit huge serves and groundstrokes similar to she at all times did
“She performed some ball tonight,” Stearns stated. “She was shifting very well, which I wasn’t anticipating an excessive amount of, truthfully. Her serves had been simply on hearth.”
There additionally had been moments the place Williams — whose fiance was within the stands — seemed as if it had been simply so long as it truly has since she competed, together with within the opening recreation, when she obtained damaged at love this manner: forehand vast, forehand into the online, forehand lengthy, backhand lengthy.
On the finish, it took Williams a bit of additional effort to shut issues out. She stored holding match factors and stored failing to transform them. However ultimately, on her sixth likelihood, Williams powered in a 112 mph serve that Stearns returned into the online. That was it: Williams smiled vast as may be, raised a fist and jogged to the online to shake arms, then carried out her customary post-win pirouette-and-wave.
“It’s not simple. It gained’t be simple. It’s not simple for anybody out right here,” stated Williams, who subsequent faces No. 5 seed Magdalena Frech, who’s 27. “So I do know I’ll must struggle for each match. However I’m up for that.”
