Venus Williams amounts to opening us at 45: I’m just trying to have fun, stay relaxed and be my best staff ”

This, in itself, is remarkable.

And yet, there is much more that is significant in its first appearance during a Grand Chelem tournament in two complete years, no matter how Williams plays in the Arthur Ashe stadium on Monday evening when he met Karolina Muchova, finalist of the French Open in 2023 and two semi-finalists in New York.

“I want to be my best, and that’s the expectation I have for myself: to get the most out of me. And that’s all the player can ask,” said Williams on Saturday. “I haven’t played as much as the other players, so it’s a different challenge when you are dealing with this. So I’m just trying to have fun, staying relaxed and being my best staff.”

Williams returned to the tour in July, 16 months after playing an official match anywhere and less than a year after being operated for uterine fibroids.

Venus Williams is in a Grand Chelem tournament for the first time in 2 years

“It’s really, I would say, inspiring,” said Naomi Osaka, 27, quadruple Grand Slam champion. “My only thing is: I don’t really like the way each title mentions their age.

Williams and his younger sister Serena, whose last match as a pro came to Flushing Meadows in 2022, represent an indelible chapter in the history of tennis, yes, but also sport in a greater sense and even of American society.

They transcended the simple scores and statistics and the books of victories-and-licking, and did everything much more than that, including the famous stand in favor of price equality for women in Wimbledon.

“She is one of the best athletes of all time,” said Frances Tiafoe, twice open, Frances Tiafoe. “She and her sister, they are not only perfect for the female game, not only perfect for female sports, but they are so emblematic.”

Venus and Serena Williams are both sisters who have reached the top of tennis

Their story is repeated: two brothers and sisters were first taught in tennis by their self -taught father and both reached the professional tour, but both reached n ° 1 in the ranking and won the most important trophies in their world sport.

“People, I suppose,” said Osaka, “should appreciate them a little more.”

Osaka grew up watching the Williams sisters, then competed against them.

The same goes for many other women, such as Coco Gauff, who announced for the first time in the world by beating Venus at Wimbledon in 2019. After this match, Gauff – only 15 at the time – said that she thanked Venus “for everything she did” and told journalists: “I would not be here if it was not for her.”

Venus was the first black woman from Althea Gibson to win Wimbledon

In 2000, Venus became the first black woman from Althea Gibson in the 1950s to win the championship at the All England Club.

“She has (had) a huge impact. … It’s so cool to see a legend always play, always doing what she likes,” said the finalist of the US Open 2021, Leylah Fernandez. “It is not, a little, to prove that people are wrong, but it is because she really likes sport – and you can see the child in her. I love it. “

Indeed, asked why she would care to play, Williams replied: “Why not?”

Venus Williams has 23 Grand Slam trophies in single and double

Williams collected five single trophies in Wimbledon and also won the US Open in 2000 and 2001. It was apart from 14 Grand Chelem titles in female double – all with Serena – and two in double mixed, an event to which she returned to Flushing Meadows this week.

Since the Sisters Williams came to the scene – Venus made her professional debut in 1994, when she was 14 years old; Serena, who has 15 months less, would soon follow and end up with 23 major titles in simple – they gave the example for the children who looked like them and wanted to play tennis.

Last month in Washington, Williams was proud to note that there were three black women in competition on the field when she played – and won, by the way – a double match at the first event of her return.

“It is surprising that African-American girls now know that they can play tennis, that it is an option, an opportunity for them to be there, in the field, in any way whatsoever,” she said, “that you arrive at the pros, whether you played at university or that you just learn sport.”