NEW YORK — Venus Williams admitted that there is a different challenge when you are of a certain age and haven’t played as much as other players on tour. She also doesn’t seem to mind if there is any negativity around her 25th appearance at the US Open.
The smile is always going to be there, healthy or injured, ranked or as a wild card – like she is this year, sitting at No. 602 in the latest WTA rankings.
A two-time US Open champion and two-time runner-up, she knows more than anyone the pressures of playing in New York, and because of that experience, she has more than earned the respect of the tennis community at large.
In front of a packed Arthur Ashe Stadium on Monday, Williams, stylish as ever in an all-white ensemble with a matching visor, took the court against No. 11 seed Karolina Muchova with a partisan contingent on her side. Though at times showing the form that vaulted her to the top-ranked player in the world 23 years ago, Williams couldn’t sustain the momentum, losing 6-3, 2-6, 6-1 in a little over two hours.
Williams got off to a slow start, broken on her initial serve and falling quickly behind 2-0 against Muchova, a two-time semifinalist at the US Open. But that grit and fight showed itself time and again, with Williams taking the next three games before Muchova took the next four games to take the first set, capitalizing on Williams’ mistakes and sending her scurrying around the court chasing her effective forehand.
Getting off to a quick start in the second set, Williams played smart tennis and fed off the crowd, even blasting a forehand winner to take a two-game lead. She continued to apply the pressure, despite hitting numerous balls in the net, to easily take the second set.
But things went away in the final set as Williams tried in vain to combat Muchova’s aggressiveness, losing the first three games before Muchova drove a forehand winner into the corner to secure the match.
Williams was making her first appearance at the US Open since 2023, and is playing at 45 years old; no one that age has competed in a single tournament at the US Open since 1981.
Even though the end result was the same, the atmosphere was quite different the last time these two played in the US Open, a 6-3, 7-5 victory for Muchova in front of an empty Arthur Ashe Stadium because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Williams, who had 24 unforced errors and 10 double faults, has made no indication that she is planning to retire. The US Open was only her third singles event in 2025, following a 16-month hiatus.
‘Yeah, my goal is to do what I want to do. I wanted to be here this summer. I’m so grateful for all the folks who gave me a wild card. They could have said, Hey, listen, you’ve been gone too long, you haven’t won a lot of matches in the last few years. I wasn’t lucky with my health and with injuries,’ Williams said after the match.
One of the greatest players of her generation, Williams has seven singles titles in total at Grand Slam tournaments, with the other five coming at Wimbledon (2000-01, 2005, 2007-08), along with 14 doubles titles, with her sister, Serena, and four Olympic gold medals.
Williams said the New York crowd played a part in her play.
‘You know, the lights are very bright out there. I don’t think I’ve ever had a crowd that much on my side,’ she said. ‘When I lost those first two games, they were just still right there with me every point. Didn’t matter if I was losing and it was starting to roll fast, they were just right there with me, and it felt great.’
Muchova, ranked 13th in the world, will play the winner of Sorana Cirstea and Solana Sierra in the second round.
Extra points
This year’s tournament marks the 75th anniversary of Althea Gibson’s historic first appearance at the US Open, where she became the first African-American player at the Grand Slam. Monday is also a special day as it would have been Gibson’s 98th birthday, and before the match on Arthur Ashe Stadium, a video tribute was shown.
‘I think the most important part is that we are celebrating it and recognizing it, because Althea accomplished so much, and a lot of it has not been given the credit it deserves and the attention and the praise,’ Williams said this week.
I think that’s the most important part to me, just shining light on it and seeing, just acknowledging that.’