[ad_1]
By AP – Questions about Venus Williams’ future have been piling up for some time, some subtle, some less so.
About his return to a particular event. Whether she will stay for the next season.
About his passion for tennis. About his motivation at 40. About other players who recently retired or were about to retire.
The bottom line, essentially, was this: As Williams racked up more and more early outs in Grand Slam tournaments – and, well, other tournaments too – how long would she keep playing tennis? professional? But there’s another bottom line and it’s this: it’s really up to one person to decide why and how long Williams will continue.
Williams, of course.
And after scoring 0-3 at the sport’s major championships in 2020, and a 1-8 overall during the pandemic-cut season, Williams started the 2021 Grand Slam season with the best kind of response ever. these questions. She won.
From his 21st open from Australia and professional-era record 88th All-Slam appearance, Williams beat Kirsten Flipkens 7-5 6-2 on Monday. This set up a second-round meeting on Wednesday with Sara Errani, a 33-year-old Italian who was a French Open finalist and US Open semi-finalist in 2012 and is now ranked 134th.
“I try to improve myself every day. I think no matter what happens to you in life you always keep your head up. You give a hundred million percent,” Williams said after compiling 10 points. breaking and facing just one against Flipkens. “It’s what I do every day. It’s something I can be proud of.”
Williams stepped out onto the court with wide bands of beige athletic tape across her left knee, a protection that looked like an asterisk.
Asked about it by a TV reporter afterwards, Williams deflected the request with a “decor” joke and a smile. She looked great in the game, those long strides that carried her along the backline, just like they did against so many opponents for so many years.
“I feel like every time I see her it’s really amazing how much she loves tennis. I see her smile so much nowadays so it’s really nice to see. just that aura of loving sports and that contagious energy, “said three-time Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka.” I hope I can learn a lot from her.
Frankly, anyone can. About the prospect. About perseverance. About grace.
Williams is someone who owns seven Grand Slam singles titles – five at Wimbledon, two at the US Open – and another 14 in doubles with his sister Serena.
She’s someone who reached nine other major singles finals that she lost (seven of those against Serena, part of the most notable sibling rivalry in sports history).
Someone who won four Olympic gold medals.
Someone who was ranked # 1 (and currently # 81).
And so on.
Plus, someone who years ago needed to learn how to live with an energy-draining autoimmune disease.
“She’s such an inspiration because she’s never frustrated with her situation, from a health standpoint. She always looks on the bright side,” Serena said after her own uneven first-round victory at Melbourne Park on Monday.
“Then she works so hard. Yeah, she’s been awesome. We’ve been hitting partners for the first two weeks, two and a half weeks, since we were here in Australia. It was so good training with her. . It was so good every day “Serena added. “It’s also very inspiring because she always pushes me to a level that no one else is able to push me, so that was incredibly helpful.”
When the older Williams met the media, the second question she received was whether her age was “in the foreground” for her in competition these days.
Williams flew back, creating this exchange:
“Would that be a priority for you if you played a professional tennis match?”
“Not necessarily.”
“Here.”
Another well-played response from Williams.
For a daily dose of the best of the latest news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter in Click here!
[ad_2]
