Venus wows in WTA comeback match, at 45
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.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Time of India
an hour ago
- Time of India
Great escape at Old Trafford: Shubman Gill leads the way, Ravindra Jadeja and Washington Sundar seal gritty draw for India
(L-R) Shubman Gill, Ravindra Jadeja and Washington Sundar score centuries on Day 5 at the Old Trafford. (AP) in Manchester: Fifteen overs left, drinks in the middle and Ben Stokes walked towards Ravindra Jadeja with his hand extended for a shake. The England captain was ready to end the game as a draw but Ravindra Jadeja and Washington Sundar didn't move an inch. So didn't captain Shubman Gill in the change room. Jadeja was in striking distance of his individual hundred and even after Stokes insistence on shaking the hands, the all-rounder maintained, "I can't do anything". The writing was on the wall but it was India's time to have some fun after a long grind. And they did as both Jadeja and Sundar scored their respective hundreds and then finally the shake hands happened. In the backyard of the team which hates the D word, Shubman Gill and Co's great escape - a fighting draw - at Old Trafford will taste as sweet as a comprehensive W. Five hard fought sessions and four fantastic knocks later, the visitors not only stay alive in the series but will have their tails up going into a mouth-watering finale at The Oval next week. The Manchester Test was nowhere close to India's reach at the half-way mark but the last two days saw them stage an extraordinary fightback with the bat to enforce the draw. Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel. SUBSCRIBE NOW! Bowling was flat, tactics were flatter and the start with the bat on Day 4 pushed them further back but the response from KL Rahul, Shubman Gill, Washington Sundar and Ravindra Jadeja deserves a lot of credit. For a side which was reduced to 0/2 in the first over of their second essay to lose only two more in the remaining 143 overs, is an insane effort and frustrated England for five long sessions, and forced them to settle for only their second draw under the combination of captain Stokes and coach Brendon McCullum. India vs England rain, weather forecast: Can Shubman Gill-KL Rahul pull off stunning draw? They tried everything in and out of the book to make an inroad but nothing worked. It was the right-handed pair of Gill and Rahul on Day 4 before the lefties Sundar and Jadeja stood like a rock on the final day of the Test. It was a reflection of their match temperament, game awareness and the gumption to bat out time against an opposition which just hates to settle for a draw in the whites. These were individual batting masterclasses stitched together in two daddy stands but something which the dressing room desperately needed after ending up on the wrong side of the 2-1 scoreline post the Lord's Test. They haven't been outplayed or outsmarted in the series so far but the inability to close out the small moments, which have had a big say in the match, have hurt them. Poll Who was the standout player for India in the Manchester Test? Ravindra Jadeja Washington Sundar Shubman Gill While they are still far from an ideal Playing XI - mostly due to injuries and availability issues - but the exhibition of grit in the last two days in overcast Manchester will do their confidence a world of good. A lot was said about Gill's success overseas but here is after four Tests sitting with four hundreds next to his name and a tally of 732 runs. The two failures in Lord's and in Manchester first innings got the tongues to wag again but he shut the traps for good with a statement ton which is arguably his finest till date. Captaincy pressure, questions on tactics, scorecard reading 0/2 but the youngster quite literally shut the outside noise and put in an old-fashioned grind to set the base for batters to follow. There were nervy moments, a couple of drop catches, blows to the body but it was all worth it as it allowed his side to have the only favourable result at that stage. There was a tricky period after the wickets of Rahul and Gill in the first session but the response from Sundar and Jadeja was as compact as India would have liked. Jadeja made the early life count and used all his experience to counter whatever was thrown at him. Four fifties, one hundred and it has been a phenomenal series with the bat for Jadeja and he has been the crisis man for India lower down the order. A victory was out of the picture the moment they dished out an ordinary effort with the ball and it was all about saving the game from there on. With Jadeja behind the wheel on the final day, not only did they fashion that but also did something which not many expected this side, undergoing transition under a 25-year-old captain, to do - stay alive after four Day 5 finishes. For real-time updates, scores, and highlights, follow our live coverage of the India vs England Test match here. Catch Rani Rampal's inspiring story on Game On, Episode 4. Watch Here!
Time of India
3 hours ago
- Time of India
One hour of Ben Stokes in Manchester: One shoulder, one spell, one statement
England captain Ben Stokes (AP) in Manchester: 8-2-11-1. Forty-eight eventful deliveries, one big wicket of KL Rahul, and almost the dismissal of Shubman Gill, Enland captain Ben Stokes on Sunday put on a spectacle, not just another show, at Old Trafford on an overcast Day 5 morning of the Manchester Test. He constantly rubbed his shoulder, clutched his hamstring, felt stiffness in the bicep of his bowling arm, and grimaced in pain every over, yet kept charging in during what turned out to be a gripping passage of play. Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel. SUBSCRIBE NOW! Operating from the Sir James Anderson End, Stokes—who brought himself on in the second over of the day—immediately identified the variable zone and relentlessly targeted it from wide of the crease. The angle and the tricks offered by the pitch made life difficult for the overnight pair of Rahul and Gill. Some deliveries kept alarmingly low, while others reared awkwardly off a good length. The right-handers struggled to deal with the angle and two-paced bounce, which ultimately led to Rahul's dismissal. The ball jagged back sharply after pitching, and the low bounce trapped Rahul plumb in front. Stokes was elated, forgetting all his niggles in that moment. He leapt in celebration but held back slightly, letting out a restrained fist pump. With spring in his stride, the England captain wasn't ready to ease off. He could sense another wicket coming with the pressure he was building. India looked tentative—Gill had already survived a close chance and taken a painful blow to his right thumb. After Rahul's exit, Gill was the big fish, and Stokes was determined to remove him. So much so that he bowled an eight-over spell before handing over to the pacers armed with the second new ball. Before Day 5, there had been many questions surrounding whether Stokes would bowl at all. But he seemed locked in, ready to give it everything. That spirited spell not only broke a stubborn partnership but also kept Jofra Archer, Chris Woakes, and Brydon Carse fresh for a later burst with the new ball. Considering his already immense workload in the series—including a five-wicket haul and a century at Lord's, followed by two days of bed rest—Stokes had to dig deep into his reserves for that effort. Across five days, he barely left the field, constantly challenging the opposition with bat and ball. His intensity never dropped. At a time when player workload is a trending concern, Stokes has seemingly erased the word from his vocabulary. In this ongoing battle of I vs Me vs India, Ben Stokes remains the real winner. For real-time updates, scores, and highlights, follow our live coverage of the India vs England Test match here. Catch Rani Rampal's inspiring story on Game On, Episode 4. Watch Here!
News18
3 hours ago
- News18
Shubman Gill To Don Bradman: Most Runs In Test Series By Captains
1/10 Don Bradman leads the record chart having scored 810 runs with 3 centuries in the 1936/37 Ashes, averaging 90.00. (ICC) Graham Gooch piled up 752 runs including a 333 vs India in 1990, striking at 62.09. (ICC) Sunil Gavaskar hit 732 runs at 91.50 with 1 century in the 1978/79 home series vs West Indies. (PC: X) David Gower led England with 732 runs and 3 hundreds in the 1985 Ashes, striking at 61.20. (PC: @leicsccc/X) Shubman Gill has already scored 722 runs with a top score of 269 in the 2025 Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy. (AP Photo) Don Bradman averaged 178.75 while scoring 715 runs with 4 fifties vs India in 1947/48. (PC: @cricketcomau) Don Bradman averaged 178.75 while scoring 715 runs with 4 fifties vs India in 1947/48. (PC: @ProteasMenCSA/X) Greg Chappell's 702 runs in 1975/76 included 2 hundreds and an unbeaten 182.* (ICC) Steve Smith struck 687 runs in the 2017/18 Ashes with 3 centuries and a high score of 239. (AP Photo)
