Tour veteran Venus Williams will return to Grand Slam tennis for the first time in two years after being granted a wild card for the upcoming US Open.
The 45-year-old former world No.1 will be playing in only her third tournament of the year after starting her comeback last month at the Citi Open in Washington, where she won her opening match against Peyton Sterns before losing to Magdalena Frech. More recently, at the Cincinnati Open, she was beaten by Spain’s Jessica Bouzas Maneiro.
Williams’ return to Flushing Meadows marks the 28th anniversary of when she made her debut at the Grand Slam. In 1997, she made it through to the final despite being unseeded before losing to Martina Hingis. During her career, the American has won the title twice in 2000 and 2001. In total, she has played 100 matches at the tournament, winning 79 of those.
As somebody who has already won seven Grand Slam trophies, been at the top of the rankings and earned more than $42.6M in prize money, Williams could easily walk away from the sport. However, the reason why she continues pasting is due to her love for the sport.
“Love is the key, right? If you don’t love it, then get out of it, if you can, if you have that luxury. Not everyone has that luxury. For me, I think a lot of the motivation is just to come back and try to play in the best health that I can. I never stopped hitting the ball, even when I was away.” Williams recently told reporters in Cincinnati.
“At the end of the day, you have to live your life on your own terms. Your terms should be yours. It doesn’t matter what anyone else says or what anyone else thinks, if you get to live life on your own terms, it’s a life well lived. I firmly believe in that. I do what I do because I want to live life the way I want to, unapologetically, with no regrets, on my terms.
“Do my terms always come out the way I want them to? No, but at least I tried to live on my own terms. That’s super-important to me. That would be my advice: Make your terms and don’t surrender.”
Williams will be the oldest woman to play in the US Open main draw since Renee Richards in 1981, who was 47. She is also taking part in the revamped mixed doubles tournament alongside Reilly Opelka, which will get underway a week before.
Other players to receive a wild card into the women’s draw are American players Clervie Ngounoue, Julieta Pareja, Caty McNally, Valerie Glozman and Alyssa Ahn. Furthermore, France’s Caroline Garcia and Australia’s Talia Gibson have also been given a pass.
The US Open will begin on August 24th.
