‘love Is The Key, Right?’ Evergreen Venus Williams Plays On And On At 45

“Still haven’t seen nan Rolling Stones,” says Venus Williams, smiling, arsenic she reminisced astir her unforgettable master tennis debut astatine nan property of 14 successful Oakland, California, an juncture that justified years of hype surrounding her stratospheric potential. Her first ever master tennis lucifer took spot adjacent doorway to a Rolling Stones concert. Now, 31 years later, astatine 45 years old, Williams is still here.

Three weeks aft returning to master tennis for nan first clip successful 16 months pinch a consecutive sets singles triumph complete nan past world No 35 Peyton Stearns astatine nan Citi Open successful Washington, which marked her arsenic nan second-oldest female successful history to triumph a WTA Tour-level singles lucifer and besides silenced criticisms astir her enduring beingness connected nan tour, Williams now takes her comeback to nan Cincinnati Open.

Once 1 of nan astir precocious youngsters of her time, a US Open finalist by nan property of 17, Williams continues to compete. She is 1 of nan top tennis players of each clip successful her ain right, a seven-time singles expansive slam champion, Olympic golden medallist and erstwhile No 1 successful singles. Despite each she has achieved, her enduring emotion for her athletics intends she continues to measurement connected nan believe tribunal each time pinch nan purpose of being nan champion subordinate she tin be.

“Love is nan key, right?” says Williams. “If you don’t emotion it, past get retired of it. If you can, if you person that luxury, not everyone has that luxury. For me, I deliberation a batch of nan information for maine is conscionable to travel backmost and effort to play successful nan champion wellness that I can. I ne'er stopped hitting nan ball, moreover erstwhile I was away, not arsenic intensely arsenic you would if you were playing tournaments, but I was still going retired there. And I deliberation that astatine nan extremity of nan day, you person to unrecorded your life connected your ain terms. Your position should beryllium yours. Doesn’t matter what anyone other says aliases what anyone other thinks, if you get to unrecorded life connected your ain position of life, [do] that. And I firmly judge successful that.”

This comeback, however, is not simply astir striking a tennis ball. Last month, Williams revealed she has suffered pinch fibroids for years, non-cancerous tumours that create successful and astir nan uterus, which near her pinch excruciating symptoms including pelvic symptom and dense bleeding. In summation to nan important effect fibroids has had connected Williams’ mundane life, it besides affected her tennis career. She says she had been misdiagnosed for years.

Last week, successful nan aftermath of her returning successful Washington, Williams posted a bid of videos from precisely a twelvemonth agone erstwhile she was undergoing an unfastened myomectomy room to region nan fibroids and a ample focal adenomyoma successful her uterus, insubstantial from nan lining of nan uterus that had grown successful her uterine wall: “I was told I was inoperable,” she wrote. “I was told I could bleed to decease connected nan table. I was told to get a surrogate and hide nan dream to transportation my ain children. I was misdiagnosed. I went untreated for years and years and years.”

As she has returned to nan court, Williams has utilized nan publicity astir her return to radiance a ray connected women’s aesculapian issues. “I conscionable retrieve aft my surgery, I was emotion truthful overmuch gratitude but I was capable to person nan resources to yet get done that, and I retrieve that was nan biggest emotion that I had. And astatine that point, I was obscurity adjacent playing master tennis, but now a twelvemonth later, I’m successful a wholly different space, and I person a cleanable measure of health, convey God, and I’m fresh to play and compete.”

Venus Williams said astir her wellness issues and desire to compete earlier nan Cincinnati Open. Photograph: Robert Prange/Getty Images

The adjacent competitory situation for Williams will beryllium nan 22-year-old world No 51 Jéssica Bouzas Maneiro. On nan time Bouzas Maneiro was born, 24 September 2002, Williams had already won 4 expansive slam singles titles, reached No 1 and contested nan erstwhile 3 consecutive awesome finals against her younger sister, Serena.

The elder Williams related said nan US plaything was nan attraction for her return and she is improbable to compete aft nan US Open. The remainder is unknown. “I’m very overmuch successful nan moment,” she said. “I don’t deliberation you should ever norm maine out. That’s each I tin say.”