‘It’s in my DNA’: undimmed Venus Williams returns to US Open at 45 | Venus Williams

VEnus Williams will take the court on Monday evening for its record appearance of the 25th US Open Singles, the same here we go again gave life, literally as part of the iconography of Flushing Meadows as an Arthur Ashe Stadium himself. At 45, two years old removed from her last Grand Chelem match and ranked n ° 610 in the world, she will face Karolína Muchová, the 11th Czech seeded and the finalist of the France 2023 Open who twice reached the semi-finals in New York.

If the scale of the task that had seized it is great, the symbolism of its presence too. Williams is the oldest simple competitor in the American national championship since Renée Richards 44 years ago. She made her debut here at the age of 17 in 1997 – the same year, Ashe was completed and replaced Armstrong as the main stadium of the tournament – becoming the first unrespined player in the open era to reach the final before losing Martina Hingis. Twenty-eight years later, she returns with her place in guaranteed history, but her taste for uncompromising combat.

She is the winner of the seven single titles of the Grand Chelem – five in Wimbledon, two to the US Open – to go with 14 double crowns alongside her younger sister. It was the world’s n ° 1 in simple and double, won four Olympic gold medals and brought in prices around $ 43 million with countless others to mentions and external efforts. Given its absurd longevity and its pan-cultural resonance, it would not be hyperbolic to call it one of the five most famous active athletes on the planet. Nothing remains to prove came and went over the years George W Bush.

However, it is once again, after an interruption of 16 months which included surgery for uterine fibroids and long spells of doubt. She returned in July to the Washington Open where she attracted crowds of overflow which included the NBA star, Kevin Durant, and eliminated Peyton Stearns, the world n ° 35. He offered a sparkle of the old fire, a recall that his classic game of first strike – great service, dishes, the attack of all currents – still has teeth.

Besides the field, the return coincided with a new chapter of his personal life. Williams confirmed last month that she was engaged to the Italian-production actor Andrea Preti, attributing him to encourage through the training and recovery grid. “My fiancé is there and he really encouraged me to continue playing,” she said after the victory over Stearns, which made her the oldest player to win a single game in terms of the tour since Martina Navratilova in 2004. “There were so many times when I just wanted to shake and a little chill. … He encouraged me to be through it.”

The couple had kept their relationship in large part until recently, but their public appearances together – navigation of navigation on the Amalfi coast at Milan fashion week earlier this year – added another type of projector to the return of Williams. For a player who stole questions skillfully on takeoff, he marked a change of tone.

For many of the last two years, many supposed that Venus had silent the tour. The farewell of Serena in vogue in 2022, followed by the outings of Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Maria Sharapova, seemed the book greenhouse at a time. But Venus, despite the joke last month that it would only return to tennis for health insurance, has never adopted this story. “I think I will always play tennis,” she said on Saturday. “It’s in my DNA. It therefore does not matter if it is now or in 30 years … Tennis will always be one of the most important parts of my life. ”

Even according to the standards of the largest sports methods – think of Jarumir Jagr, Bernard Hopkins, Tom Brady – Williams is constructed different. None of the 609 players above her in the ranking has yet reached forty, and even less 45. And only a small fraction was even alive when Williams made her professional debut at the Bank of the West Classic in 1994, when Pulp Fiction was in the rooms and men of Boyz II governed the American charts.

This feeling of permanence helps to explain why it continues. “I did not think of what people would withdraw from it,” she said. “I think especially of what I would keep.”

She has more than earned the law. Since burying the doors of a white lys sport alongside his sister, Williams has brought the twin loads of racism and sexism with unfailing grace. She directed the price equality campaign in Wimbledon and Roland Garros. She inspired a generation of black American players, including Coco Gauff, Sloane Stephens, Taylor Townsend and Hailey Baptiste.

Her presence this week also coincides with the 75th anniversary of the beginnings of Althea Gibson at the US national championships, another reminder of the line she extends. “Althea has accomplished so much, and a large part did not receive the credit it deserves,” said Williams. “The most important part is to enlighten the light and recognize it.”

Peers quickly stressed its broader importance in the past few days. “She is one of the best athletes of all time,” said Frances Tiafoe. “She and her sister, they are not only perfect for the female game, not only perfect for female sports, but they are so emblematic.” Naomi Osaka added: “I don’t really like the way each title mentions its age … it’s more broad meaning, how a legend it is.”

It is easy to rummage your return, but the margins are ruthless. Since the end of the Australian Open and Wimbledon final in 2017, then recovered as a must in the WTA Top 10 during its 38 -year season, its activity and its results have been shunned. She has not won a match at the US Open since 2019. Joker’s invitations in the main draw, including the one who brought her here, inevitably provokes a debate on the opportunity to go to young players. And his opponent Muchová, with his variety and his shooting intelligence, is precisely the kind of player who punishes rust. Frankly, a victory would be considered a major upheaval.

Williams is realistic about these issues, but his humor is as clear as his sense of fashion. “Struck too hard, it comes out,” she said when he was asked to assess her current form. “So I’m going to try to strike less for it to happen. But the good news is that I have fun controlling the points. It’s an excellent style of play for me.”

Among the most loyal defenders of the USTA’s decision to award Williams, a joker was the retired American star Andy Roddick, who took the criticism after Friday’s draw.

“I don’t care if she gets out and don’t win a single match, we should be full of gratitude to have had come Williams in our match,” said the 2003 US Open champion on his podcast. “”[The critics say] They keep him away from someone who deserves. If you deserve, you don’t need a joker. You simply qualified in your own ranking.

“It’s not a right, it’s a gift. You tell me as a tennis tournament, which Venus Williams does not deserve as a gift from the US Open? Shut up, get out of here. It was a gift for us, it is not the opposite. ”

As a postponement of the PlayStation era in a world of the PS5, the declared objectives of Williams aim less to gain majors than on the process, self -confidence and the thrill of competition. “I want to be my best, and that’s the expectation I have for myself,” she said. “I haven’t played as much as the other players, so it’s a different challenge. I’m just trying to have fun, stay relaxed and be my best staff.”

These feelings echoed his DC remarks last month: “There are no limits of excellence. It all depends on what is in your head and the quantity you can put in. If you put the work mentally, physically and emotionally, then you can have the result. It doesn’t matter.

Whether it’s his farewell to Flushing Meadows or simply another chapter of his long farewell, Williams has no interest in scripting. She will not follow him in a brilliant magazine, nor will invite anyone else to interpret her for her. When the time comes, she can simply go through the side door, like another icon from New York: Excuse me while I disappear.

For the moment, she has at least one more night on Ashe, a chance of more to swing freely under the lights of the biggest scene in her sport. “Super exciting to be back,” she said. “It doesn’t age. It becomes more exciting. “