WASHINGTON — Venus Williams wished to ship a message, to herself and to others, about getting back from an extended layoff, about competing in a sport at age 45, about by no means giving up. Sure, there was one thing particular about simply being again on a tennis courtroom Tuesday evening.
There additionally was this: She actually, actually wished to win.
And Williams did simply that, turning into the second-oldest girl to win a tour-level singles match in skilled tennis, delivering a few of her acquainted large serves and groundstrokes whereas beating Peyton Stearns, 22 years her junior, by a 6-3, 6-4 rating on the DC Open.
“Every week that I used to be coaching, I used to be, like, ‘Oh, my God, I do not know if I am ok but.’ After which there could be weeks the place I’d leap ahead,” Williams mentioned after her first singles match in additional than a 12 months and first singles victory in practically two. “And there could be two weeks the place I used to be, like, ‘Oh, God, it is not taking place.’ Even the week main up, [I thought], ‘Oh, my gosh, I would like to enhance a lot extra.’ So it is all a head recreation.”
The one older girl to win a tour-level singles match was 47-year-old Martina Navratilova at Wimbledon in 2004.
The previous No. 1-ranked Williams had not performed singles in an official match since March 2024 in Miami, lacking time whereas having surgical procedure to take away uterine fibroids. She hadn’t received in singles since August 2023 in Cincinnati. Till this week, she was listed by the WTA Tour as “inactive.”
“I am simply continuously praying for good well being, in order that manner I might have a chance to play with good well being,” Williams mentioned. “A whole lot of this for me is having the ability to come again and attempt to play at a degree [and] to play wholesome.”
Backed by a crowd that clearly was there to see and help her on the hard-court event within the nation’s capital, Williams confirmed glimpses of the expertise she possesses and the abilities she displayed whereas incomes her Grand Slam titles. She received seven in singles, 14 in girls’s doubles — all alongside youthful sister Serena — and two in blended doubles.
“I wished to play a superb match,” Williams advised the followers, then added a phrase that drew appreciative roars: “and win the match.”
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In Tuesday’s second recreation, Williams smacked a return winner to get issues began, then delivered a few different large responses to interrupt Stearns, a 23-year-old who received singles and staff NCAA titles on the College of Texas and is ranked thirty fifth.
Within the subsequent recreation, Williams sprinted ahead to achieve a drop shot and replied with a forehand winner.
The primary refrain of cheers arrived when Williams walked out into the principle stadium on the DC Open, a 7,000-seat enviornment that is greater than twice as massive as the place she was for her doubles victory a day earlier. One other got here when she strode from the sideline to the middle of the courtroom for the coin toss. The noise reached a crescendo when Williams started hitting aces, at 110 mph and quicker, the way in which she used to.
Consider: Williams received 4 Grand Slam trophies earlier than Stearns was born.
“She performed some ball tonight,” Stearns mentioned. “She was shifting very well, which I wasn’t anticipating an excessive amount of, actually. Her serves had been simply on fireplace.”
There additionally had been moments the place Williams, whose fiancé was within the stands, regarded rusty, together with within the opening recreation, when she acquired damaged at love this fashion: forehand huge, forehand into the web, forehand lengthy, backhand lengthy.
On the finish, it took Williams a bit of additional effort to shut issues out. She saved holding match factors and saved failing to transform them. However ultimately, on her sixth probability, Williams powered in a 112 mph serve that Stearns returned into the web. That was it: Williams smiled as huge as will be, raised a fist and jogged to the web to shake fingers, then carried out her customary post-win pirouette-and-wave.
“It isn’t straightforward. It will not be straightforward. It isn’t straightforward for anybody out right here,” mentioned Williams, who subsequent faces No. 5 seed Magdalena Frech, who’s 27. “So I do know I will need to combat for each match. However I am up for that.”
The Related Press contributed to this report.
