This year marks the 29th anniversary of Venus Williams’ first Tour win and remarkably the veteran player is showing no signs of retiring from the sport.
Now at the age of 42, Williams has returned back to winning ways at the ASB Classic where on Monday she recorded her first Tour win in over a year. In her opening match, she defeated 21-year-old Katie Volynets 7-6(4), 6-2, in under two hours. A player who wasn’t even born when Williams won her first of seven Grand Slam titles at the 2000 US Open.
During her latest match, Williams won 80% of her first service points and broke her opponent four times. It is the first time she has won a singles match on the Tour since Wimbledon 2021. However, she played just four tournaments throughout the entire 2022 season. As a result, she is currently ranked 1003 in the world and is relying on wildcard’s to enter the main draw of events.
“I haven’t played a lot, in years! So it’s never easy to walk out there,” Stuff.co.nz quoted Williams as saying.
“I know I’m playing well, but getting into a match is a completely different story.
“It was a tough match today, she got so many balls back and it just felt good to be able to play well against an opponent who’s on the rise.”
Unlike her sister Serna who confirmed last year she was starting to ‘evolve’ away from tennis, Williams has been hard at work improving her game. In a video published on her Youtube channel last month, she spoke about working on her forehand, serving and volleying.
“I did my best to put some time in on the court after the US Open, so that goes for something,” she commented on her performance against Volynets.
“But like I said, I’ve probably played some of the least matches on the WTA Tour.
“So I knew going out there it wasn’t going to be an easy task for me, mentally, physically, or anything.
“But what I need is to win some matches, get out there and get more and more comfortable. So it’s nice to see that some things were still firing.”
She will be hoping to keep firing in the second round where she faces Chinese world No.84 Zhu Lin who stunned fifth seed, Madison Brengle, 4-6, 7-6(6), 6-4, in her opening match.
Williams has won the ASB Classic once before in her career which was in 2015. She was also runner-up to Ana Ivanovic in 2014.
