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WASHINGTON (AP) — Venus Williams wanted to send a message to himself and others about coming back from a long layoff. Yes, just returning to the tennis court on Tuesday night was something special.
There was this too: she really, really wanted to win.
Venus Williams celebrates the victory over Payton Starnes in a match at the City Open Tennis Tournament held in Washington on Tuesday, July 22, 2025. (AP photo/Nick Wash)
And Williams did just that, becoming the second oldest woman to win a tour-level singles match in professional tennis, delivering the big serve and ground strokes that are familiar to her at the age of 45, beating Payton Stearns.
“Every week I was training, I was like, ‘Oh, my God, I’m not sure if I’m enough yet.’ And then there are weeks when I move forward. “Oh my well, I need to improve more” (oh, I thought) (I thought). Williams said after his first singles match in over a year and his first singles victory in nearly two times.
Navratilova is the only woman older than Williams, who wins a singles match
The only elderly woman to win a tour-level singles match was Martinana Bratilova, whose final victory turned 47 in 2004.
Former No. 1 rank Williams didn’t play a single in his official Miami match in March 2024, but missed time during surgery to remove his uterine fibroids. She had not won singles in Cincinnati since August 2023. Until this week, she was listed as “inactive” by the WTA Tour.
“I always pray for health, so I might have an opportunity to play healthy,” Williams said. “For me, a lot of this is about coming back and trying to play on level (and) and playing healthy.”
Before Peyton Stearns was born, Venus Williams won four Grand Slam titles
Williams gave a glimpse of the talent she has and the skills she has shown, supported by the crowds that were clearly there to see and support her at the country’s capital’s hard court tournament.
“I wanted to have a good match,” Williams told fans before adding a phrase that portrayed gratitude: “And then we won the match.”
In his second match on Tuesday, Williams started things by slapning the winner of the return, then brought some other big responses to 23-year-old Break Stearns, who won the singles and team NCAA title at the University of Texas, currently ranked No. 35.
In the next game, Williams sprinted forward to reach the drop shot, replied with the forehand winner.
The first chorus of cheers arrived when Williams headed out to the main stadium at the DC Open. Another came when he walked from a side job towards the centre of the courthouse for a coin toss. The noise reached the crescendo when Williams began slamming the ace – below 110 mph, as she used to.
Remember: Williams won four Grand Slam trophies before Stearns was born.
Venus Williams hit big serves and ground strokes like she always did.
“She played some ball tonight,” Stearns said. “She was really moving, but honestly, I wasn’t expecting much. Her serve was just burning.”
There was also a moment when Williams, whose fiancée was in the stands, looked like he was the same length as she was actually competing, including the opening game, when she broke with love like this.
Finally, Williams put in a bit of extra effort to close things down. She continued to hold match points and failed to convert them. But ultimately, on her sixth chance, Williams had a 112 mph serve and Stearns returned to the net. That was it: Williams smiled as loudly as he could, raised his fist, jogged into the net and waved before playing her conventional postwind pirouette and waves.
“It’s not easy, it’s not easy. It’s not easy for those here,” said Williams, who is next facing 27-year-old No. 5 seed Magdalena Fleck.
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