{"id":85237,"date":"2025-07-23T06:32:09","date_gmt":"2025-07-23T06:32:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/85237\/"},"modified":"2025-07-23T06:32:09","modified_gmt":"2025-07-23T06:32:09","slug":"venus-williams-45-oldest-since-navratilova-with-singles-win","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/85237\/","title":{"rendered":"Venus Williams, 45, oldest since Navratilova with singles win"},"content":{"rendered":"

WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 Venus Williams<\/a> wanted to send a message \u2014 to herself and to others \u2014 about coming back from a long layoff, about competing in a sport at age 45, about never giving up. Yes, there was something special about just being back on a tennis court Tuesday night. <\/p>\n

There also was this: She really, really wanted to win.<\/p>\n

And Williams did just that, becoming the second-oldest woman to win a tour-level singles match in professional tennis, delivering some of her familiar big serves and groundstrokes at age 45 while beating Peyton Stearns \u2014 22 years her junior \u2014 by a 6-3, 6-4 score at the DC Open<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cEach week that I was training, I was, like, \u2018Oh, my God, I don\u2019t know if I\u2019m good enough yet.\u2019 And then there would be weeks where I would leap forward. And there would be two weeks where I was, like, \u2018Oh, God, it\u2019s not happening.\u2019 Even the week leading up, (I thought), \u2018Oh, my gosh, I need to improve so much more.\u2019 So it\u2019s all a head game,\u201d Williams said after her first singles match in more than a year and first singles victory in nearly two. <\/p>\n

Navratilova is the only woman older than Williams to win a singles match <\/p>\n

The only older woman to win a tour-level singles match was Martina Navratilova, whose last triumph came at 47 in 2004. <\/p>\n

The former No. 1-ranked Williams had not played singles in an official match since March 2024 in Miami, missing time while having surgery to remove uterine fibroids. She hadn\u2019t won in singles since August 2023 in Cincinnati. Until this week, she was listed by the WTA Tour as \u201cinactive.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m just constantly praying for good health, so that way I could have an opportunity to play with good health,\u201d Williams said. \u201cA lot of this for me is being able to come back and try to play at a level (and) to play healthy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Venus Williams won four Grand Slam titles before Peyton Stearns was born<\/p>\n

Backed by a crowd that clearly was there to see, and support, her at the hard-court tournament in the nation\u2019s capital, Williams showed glimpses of the talent she possesses and the skills she displayed while earning all of her Grand Slam titles: seven in singles, 14 in women\u2019s doubles \u2014 all alongside younger sister Serena \u2014 and two in mixed doubles.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wanted to play a good match,\u201d Williams told the fans, then added a phrase that drew appreciative roars: \u201cand win the match.\u201d <\/p>\n

In Tuesday\u2019s second game, Williams smacked a return winner to get things started, then delivered a couple of other big responses to break Stearns, a 23-year-old who won singles and team NCAA titles at the University of Texas and is currently ranked 35th.<\/p>\n

In the next game, Williams sprinted forward to reach a drop shot and replied with a forehand winner. <\/p>\n

The first chorus of cheers arrived when Williams walked out into the main stadium at the DC Open, a 7,000-seat arena that\u2019s more than twice as large as where she was for her doubles victory a day earlier. Another came when she strode from the sideline to the center of the court for the coin toss. The noise reached a crescendo when Williams began hitting aces \u2014 at 110 mph and faster \u2014 the way she used to.<\/p>\n

Keep in mind: Williams won four Grand Slam trophies before Stearns was born.<\/p>\n

Venus Williams hit big serves and groundstrokes just like she always did<\/p>\n

\u201cShe played some ball tonight,\u201d Stearns said. \u201cShe was moving really well, which I wasn\u2019t expecting too much, honestly. Her serves were just on fire.\u201d <\/p>\n

There also were moments where Williams \u2014 whose fiance was in the stands \u2014 looked as if it had been just as long as it actually has since she competed, including in the opening game, when she got broken at love this way: forehand wide, forehand into the net, forehand long, backhand long.<\/p>\n

At the end, it took Williams a bit of extra effort to close things out. She kept holding match points and kept failing to convert them. But eventually, on her sixth chance, Williams powered in a 112 mph serve that Stearns returned into the net. That was it: Williams smiled wide as can be, raised a fist and jogged to the net to shake hands, then performed her customary post-win pirouette-and-wave.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not easy. It won\u2019t be easy. It\u2019s not easy for anyone out here,\u201d said Williams, who next faces No. 5 seed Magdalena Frech, who\u2019s 27. \u201cSo I know I\u2019ll have to fight for every match. But I\u2019m up for that.\u201d<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

AP tennis: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/tennis<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 Venus Williams wanted to send a message \u2014 to herself and to others \u2014 about…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":85238,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[12785,84,57,8352,50638,380,11061,62,1464,61,67,132,68,46604,2058],"class_list":{"0":"post-85237","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-dc-wire","9":"tag-district-of-columbia","10":"tag-general-news","11":"tag-magdalena-frech","12":"tag-martina-navratilova","13":"tag-miami","14":"tag-peyton-stearns","15":"tag-sports","16":"tag-tennis","17":"tag-u-s-news","18":"tag-united-states","19":"tag-unitedstates","20":"tag-us","21":"tag-venus-williams","22":"tag-washington"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114901152231651470","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85237","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=85237"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85237\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/85238"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=85237"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=85237"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=85237"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}