With that rocking step that tennis fans have become used to over the previous 25 years, she entered the court late on a grey and gloomy day. She tugged at the ends of an elastic band while carrying her tennis bag in order to do some last-minute upper-body stretches.
At age 43, Venus Williams, a five-time Wimbledon singles champion and nine-time semifinalist, returned to Centre Court on Monday in an attempt to break the record for the oldest woman to win a main draw singles match at the sport’s oldest Grand Slam competition.
That was not the course of the day. She eventually developed a limp, becoming a wounded parable for a few unavoidable realities about tennis at this time period.
First, because to improved training, diet, and remuneration, more athletes are extending their careers farther than ever before, into their late 30s and, in the case of the Williams sisters, into their early 40s. After quitting from tennis in 2020 and having two children, 32-year-old former world No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki made the announcement this month that she will be playing tennis again.
Second, unless your name is Novak Djokovic, it’s challenging to remain fit and succeed in this punishing sport in your late 30s and early 40s.
On Monday, the opening day of Wimbledon, senior people could be found all across the All England Club, not only in the television booths. When Djokovic, 36, had finished his routine start to yet another title defence by defeating Argentine Pedro Cachn in straight sets, Williams took Centre Court. The 38-year-old American John Isner was defeated by the Spanish player Jaume Munar in four sets on Court 16, while two courts away, on Court 18, Stan Wawrinka, another 38-year-old, was putting on a clinic for Emil Ruusuvuori and dispatching the 24-year-old Finn in straight sets.
Despite her best efforts, Williams was unsuccessful as she was defeated by Ukrainian Elina Svitolina, 6-4, 6-3, in a match in which Williams aggravatingly hurt her right knee. Williams never recaptured the form she had in the opening minutes of the match, when she took the lead and all but guaranteed that the old guard would prevail. Williams, who is now ranked 558th in the world, defeated Camila Giorgi of Italy in a third-set tiebreaker last month in Birmingham, England, to become the first player from the top 50 to defeat her in four years.
Williams won Wimbledon on five of her nine appearances between 2000 and 2008, and the win helped her get a wild-card entrance into the competition. She reached the women’s singles final as recently as 2017, yet she has not shown any signs that she is heading in a certain direction.
Williams remarked in her post-match press conference, looking glum and rattled, “I’m a competitor.” I earn my livelihood doing that, I said.
Since the age of 14, she has been doing it.
Williams started the match by launching serves and laced strong, flat strokes to the back of the court on grass that was slippery after a mid-afternoon rain shower and the dampness that persisted in the air all day. The second game saw her break Svitolina’s serve. Williams, though, stormed the net in the third game’s break point situation while clutching her bandaged right knee and screaming as she fell to the ground.
Williams was on the ground for a while, with Svitolina supporting her with a towel under the cover of her head. Williams’ day seemed to be coming to a close. But she stood up and hobbled awkwardly to her chair, where a trainer looked at her. After then, she could move far less freely than she had in the previous two games.
She limped through the game’s points and found it difficult to produce the force in her serves and groundstrokes, which have long been the game’s distinguishing characteristics but call on the capacity to push and twist with the lower part of the body. Her first serve speed dipped from 115 mph early in the match to the mid-90s.
Then, the grass killed me, Williams said, “I was literally killing it.” It’s not enjoyable right now.
The progression of events had an unsettling familiarity. Two years before, her sister Serena entered the same court for her first-round match in an attempt to win her eighth Wimbledon championship at the age of 39. Serena Williams was forced to quit due to an ankle injury in the first round, therefore the effort only lasted six games.
At the beginning of what seemed to be the last summer of competitive tennis last year, though one can never be sure these days, Serena Williams made her way back to Wimbledon. On a night that had the air of a goodbye, she was defeated in the first round in three sets.
The startling thing about her elder sister’s marriage The most striking things about Monday were how little it seemed like a valedictory and how stubborn Venus Williams came across as she dealt with the costs that ageing exacts on every athlete, regardless of talent.
Despite the fact that senior athletes are far more prone to injuries, she claimed to be in disbelief at becoming hurt.
She remarked, “I just can’t believe what took happened. It is strange, kind of.
She was upset with how the game had come to a close. When Svitolina was on match point, she struck a ball that was ruled out, but the chair umpire awarded her the victory when the Hawk-Eye technology confirmed it was in. The umpire decided that the point would not be replayed since Williams’ return of the shot had been wide. Williams omitted the handshake with the umpire after the game.
She said that the discomfort from the injuries had made it difficult for her to concentrate. She said she had never thought about giving up and that she would get her knee examined on Tuesday. After recuperating from a hamstring injury at the beginning of the year, she was discussing the hardship of dealing with another ailment only a few moments later.
She has been absent from the tour for some time now. In her early 40s, she does not desire it for herself.
I’m hoping I can simply find out what’s going on and move on,” she added.
That has only meant returning to the tennis court for the last 30 years or more.
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