WASHINGTON – Audiences at the main stadium at the DC Open on Thursday night gave her a standing ovation when she bid on her first winning streak since 2019. She responds with a smile, and a kind of pirouette and wave, usually reserved to celebrate victory.
Williams hadn’t competed for over a year, so even if the tournament ended after a 6-2, 6-2 defeat to No. 24 Magdalena Fletch in the second round, for the seven-time Grand Slam singles champion and many of her fans, he was just back.
“Yeah, I had so much fun. It’s definitely not the outcome I wanted, but it’s still a learning experience. The part about sports (and) life is that you don’t stop learning,” said Williams, 45. “We managed to play a lot of games here, but that was definitely a plus. The DC fans are epic. We couldn’t be happy in the first week.”
Her first round victory on Tuesday against No. 35 Payton Stearns made Williams the oldest woman to win a tour-level singles match, as Martina Navratilova was 47 years old in 2004.
It was Williams’ first win in singles since 2023, and she later joked that she was motivated to succeed as she wanted to renew her access to the WTA health insurance plan after she was inactive for a long time.
This hard court tournament was Williams’ first event since March 2024. She missed time due to surgery for her uterine fibroids.
“Healthcare is very important, it’s access to healthcare, and what you’re experiencing will allow you to see the right doctor and the best doctor,” Williams said. “It’s obviously a fun and entertaining moment, but it’s a problem people are dealing with, so it’s serious.”
She also won doubles matches in Washington, playing a total of four games (two singles and doubles respectively) that eventually caught up with her over the course of four days.
“Unfortunately, I feel like I’m running out of gas today,” Williams said. “I tried to find energy, but I didn’t find it.”
The last time Williams won at least two consecutive times was at the Cincinnati Open in August 2019, bringing together third consecutive wins before losing to the Madison Keys in the quarterfinals.
Williams started off well against Fleck, moving up 2-1. But from there, Fleck claimed that seven straight games own the first set and would lead the second 2-0.
Fletch is 27 years old from Poland and was running for the fourth round of the 2024 Australian Open before losing to Kokogoff.
“I can’t even imagine how she would push herself,” Fleck said of Williams. “It’s really amazing.”
The show under the lights tonight was all about Williams. Williams was greeting me as he torched his green exercise band and left the court. Williams spreads one of her booming ground strokes and doesn’t make any mistakes, she can still hit the ball hard – the crowd at the main stadium made a roar.
Problem for Williams: She frequently couldn’t properly adjust those shots. For example, include when she sails down the forehand path after a rushing forward to reach a short ball from Fletch’s racket. That gave Fleck a 3-2 lead.
Williams either dropped his head or fell his shoulder after a few mistakes, with 14 powerful errors in the opening set, more than twice as many as Fleck’s. Fans often responded with “awww” quickly before attempting to give Williams a boost by shouting support.
There was a chant of applause accompanied, “Venus!” When she broke and reached within 4-2 on that set. However, Williams didn’t get another game.
“There’s so much learning from here. I know exactly what I need to work on, and I know where I can improve,” Williams said. “The good news is that I’m always in control of the points. The important part is getting the ball in.”
This report uses information from the Associated Press.
