"Why Not?" - Legendary Venus Williams Speaks Ahead of Citi Open Return

By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Sunday July 20, 2025

Venus Williams, 45, has numerous causes to maneuver past skilled tennis and reap the benefits of the various inventive and entrepreneurial alternatives are actually out there to her. However she couldn’t resist the pull to check herself in opposition to the sports activities’ elite at the very least another time this week on the Mubadala Citi Open in Washington, D.C.

Williams, who was granted a wild card into the principle draw and can face American Peyton Stearns in her first match for the reason that 2024 Miami Open, explains her resolution to play as follows: “Why not?”

The American icon spoke to the media in a pre-tournament press convention on Sunday and doled out knowledge at a fast clip.

“It is unimaginable,” she stated, beaming from the rostrum, as she was requested what it felt wish to encourage America’s subsequent era of expertise. “Really, that was not what I assumed would occur in my life as a youngster. I needed to play the sport, be a champion. I liked the sport a lot, I did not notice that it will be a lot larger than myself, and seeing these younger girls doing constructive issues with their life, successful tournaments, inspiring the subsequent era too. It is like I might have by no means imagined that.”

She completed the declaration with a really Venus sentence:

“It is like icing on the cake, cherries on high, with the nuts and all of the fixings. , it is stunning.”

Did she miss tennis? Is that why she’s returning this week? Not essentially.

“I am not an individual that misses quite a bit,” she stated. “I’ve a lot I am doing off of the court docket that saved me so busy that I do not know if I had time to overlook something, however I do know that after I went to Wimbledon this yr, I used to be there for a day, and it was so stunning and thrilling, and I remembered all of the instances that I had, in fact, the adrenaline, all these issues, I believe simply the pure enjoyable of enjoying the sport, the enjoyable of the problem, overcoming – whenever you play, it’s important to overcome so many challenges, your opponents, the situations, numerous instances it’s important to overcome your self.

“These issues are very thrilling. So I believe perhaps simply the problem of all of it.”

Williams might need to catch a wild card on the US Open, however as she stated quite a few instances throughout her press convention, she prefers to maintain her playing cards tight to her vest.

“I am simply right here for now, and who is aware of, perhaps there’s extra,” she stated. “Like I stated, I maintain my playing cards shut, however in the intervening time I am targeted simply on this, and I have never performed in a yr. There isn’t any doubt I can play tennis, however clearly, coming again to play matches, it takes time to get within the swing of issues.”

Which takes us to our subsequent query. Can she be efficient on the tennis court docket, at her age, after so many well being points? Williams has not gained a match since 2023 in Cincinnati, and he or she has gained simply six of 26 matches for the reason that begin of 2021.

Not that it actually issues to followers who simply need to catch a glimpse of this legend up shut and private, however Williams feels she has what it takes to play successful tennis.

“I positively really feel I am going to play nicely. I am nonetheless the identical participant. I hit huge,” she stated with a smile. “That is my model. So it is about hitting huge and really placing it in. So this can be my effort. Put it within the court docket. That is my major aim.

Extra essential, is being part of the sport that she loves, and persevering with to fly the flag for ladies’s tennis. Keep in mind that Venus performed a pivotal position in garnering equal prize cash for ladies at Wimbledon almost twenty years in the past. She’s been championing the ladies’s sport ever since, and he or she’s not able to cease – at the very least not but.

“I all the time felt an enormous accountability in direction of selling tennis and likewise selling girls’s sports activities. I believe that this era cannot overlook that ladies, we nonetheless have heaps to struggle for and having an instance to set is so essential.

“And naturally, I am in love with tennis, so to have the chance, to have this platform, to advertise the sport, even now, is a superb alternative.”