Tennis legend Venus Williams is making history with her return to the U.S. Open at the end of this month as the oldest player to take the court in more than 40 years.
At 45 years old, no other tennis player her age is competing in the singles tournament since 1981, when Renée Richards set the record at 47 years old.
This will be the 25th time Williams competes for a singles title at the U.S. Open.
Williams received a wild card invitation to the highly anticipated tournament, meaning she did not need to achieve a qualifying ranking to participate.
She is currently ranked 654th in the WTA singles rankings, according to the International Tennis Federation, after a series of injuries and underwhelming performances in several tournaments in 2023.
But the seven-time Grand Slam singles champion has won the U.S. Open twice and hopes to repeat the feat.
This is the second time this year that Williams is making history with her age. In July, she returned to the courts after a 16-month hiatus and defeated Peyton Stearns at the DC Open, becoming the oldest player to win a WTA singles match since 2004, when Martina Navratilova won the first round at Wimbledon at 47 years old.
Professional tennis differs from many other sports because female players generally do not retire so young.
The Czech-American tennis star Navratilova was 49 years old when she won her 59th Grand Slam in mixed doubles in 2006.
According to the US Open, over the years, the tournament has seen singles players in their 30s and 40s win the championship title.
Before the Open Era of tennis—a period that began in 1968, when amateurs and professionals could compete side by side for the first time—the Norwegian-American player Molla Bjurstedt Mallory set the record as the oldest singles winner in 1926. She was 42 years old.
The oldest male player to win a singles match before the Open Era was 38-year-old American William Larned, who set the record in 1911.
In the Open Era, age records have dropped slightly, but they still show the dominance of players beyond traditional peak years.
The Italian Flavia Pennetta claimed the title of oldest singles winner at the U.S. Open in 2015, at 33 years old.
Serbian champion Novak Djokovic claimed the title of oldest singles winner in 2023, at 36 years old.
Williams’ sister, Serena Williams, also set age records in the sport. At 35 years old, the younger Williams won her 23rd Grand Slam singles title in 2017—the oldest player to achieve that feat. She won the Australian Open against her sister Venus, and the victory also made Serena the oldest player to hold the world No. 1 ranking, according to Guinness World Records.
In 2014, at 32 years old, Serena Williams also became the second-oldest female champion in the U.S. Open singles division.
In addition to her singles play, Venus Williams will also compete in mixed doubles at the U.S. Open with her American compatriot Reilly Opelka, 27 years old.
Source: npr.org by Alana Wise