WASHINGTON – Venus Williams wanted to send a message to himself and others about coming back from a long layoff, playing in sports at 45, never giving up. Yes, just returning to the tennis court on Tuesday night was something special.
There was this too: she really, really wanted to win.
And Williams did just that, becoming the second oldest woman to win a tour-level singles match in professional tennis, delivering the familiar big serves and ground strokes, beating 22-year-old Payton Stearns with a 6-3, 6-4 score at the DC Open.
“Every week I was training, I was like, ‘Oh, my God, I’m not sure if I’m enough yet.’ And Williams said after his first singles match in over a year and his first singles victory in nearly two times. “And there will be two weeks like, ‘Oh, God, that’s not happening.’ “Oh my well, I need to improve more” (oh, I thought) (I thought). So it’s all head games. ”
The only elderly woman to win a tour-level singles match was Martinana Bratirova, 47, at Wimbledon in 2004.
Former No. 1 rank Williams didn’t play a single in his official Miami match in March 2024, but missed time during surgery to remove his uterine fibroids. She had not won singles in Cincinnati since August 2023. Until this week, she was listed as “inactive” by the WTA Tour.
“I always pray for my health, so I might have the opportunity to play healthy,” Williams said. “For me, a lot of this is being able to come back and play on level (and) and play healthy.”
Williams showed a glimpse of the talent she has and the skills she displayed while winning the Grand Slam title, supported by the crowds who were clearly there to support her at the country’s capital’s hard court tournament. She scored seven in singles and 14 in women’s doubles along with her sister Serena, winning two mixed doubles.
“I wanted to have a good match,” Williams told fans before adding a phrase that portrayed gratitude: “And then we won the match.”
In his second match on Tuesday, Williams started things by slap the winner of the return, bringing some major responses to 23-year-old Break Stearns, who won the singles and team NCAA title at the University of Texas, ranking 35th.
In the next game, Williams sprinted forward to reach the drop shot, replied with the forehand winner.
The first chorus of cheers arrived when Williams headed out to the main stadium at the DC Open. Another came when he walked from a side job towards the centre of the courthouse for a coin toss. The noise reached the Crescendo as Williams began slamming the ace below 110 mph.
Remember: Williams won four Grand Slam trophies before Stearns was born.
“She played some ball tonight,” Stearns said. “She was really moving, but honestly, I wasn’t expecting much. Her serve was just burning.”
There were also moments when Williams, whose fiance was in the stands, broke love like this, including the opening game.
Finally, Williams put in a bit of extra effort to close things down. She continued to hold match points and failed to convert them. But ultimately, on her sixth chance, Williams had a 112 mph serve and Stearns returned to the net. That’s all. Williams smiled as wide as possible, lifting his fist, jogging into the net and waving before running the conventional postwind pirouette and waves.
“It’s not easy, it’s not easy. It’s not easy for those here,” said Williams, who is next facing 27-year-old No. 5 seed Magdalena Fleck.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
