Washington (AFP) – Seven-time Grand Slam single champion Venus Williams returned to competitive tennis after a 16-month hiatus on Monday with a doubles victory at the WTA and ATP DC Open. The 45-year-old American joined compatriot Hailey Baptiste to defeat Canada’s Eugenie Bouchard and US teen Clervie Ngounoue 6-3, 6-1 in a first-round match.
“After the match Hailey asked me, ‘How did that feel?’ It’s probably even harder to play the doubles first because I’m not a doubles player,” Williams said. “So it’s great to have her to kind of hold the team up. She has had the experience. She served first because she has been playing all year and playing well. I think that helped me a lot.”
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“I think also just to get the feel for the ball. Obviously singles I have a little more experience even though doubles I have had some great results. It’s just nice to be able to play. Where I am at this year is so much different from where I was at last year. It’s night and day, being able to be here and prepare for the tournament as opposed to preparing for surgery a year ago.”
Williams makes her return to singles on Tuesday in the main court night feature match against American Peyton Stearns. A crowd of about 3,000 spectators watched the doubles match, including NBA star Kevin Durant, who is from Washington. “We were both so focused and after the match, I was like, ‘Did you see Kevin Durant walk in?’ She was like, ‘Yeah,'” Williams said. Fans chanting “K-D” made it tough for Baptiste to focus but she was happy to have a famous fan in the stands. “It’s sick that he came out to support us,” she said. “It’s really cool.”
“I was like, ‘I want to show KD what I can do. Hit the ball to me,'” Williams said. “They hit every ball to you. I was like, OK, whatever. However we win is fine.” For Williams, who battled health issues during much of her layoff, just being back on the court was a victory. “I just want to be healthy. You can play all the matches in the world, can you do all the things in the world, but when your health is gone or when your opportunities are being taken away, it just puts a whole new perspective,” Williams said. “I wasn’t even thinking about tennis at that point. Just wanted to have a successful surgery that I lived through.”
“Tennis is a game, it’s our life, literally our obsession, it’s actually a cult, I think. But at the end of the day, it doesn’t really matter if your health is not there. Definitely put it in perspective for me and maybe made it easier to make the decision to maybe come back out here and maybe play even freer.”
Williams said she enjoys sharing her emotions with spectators after a triumph. “It’s so much work,” she said. “I’ve been training for months to get to this moment, and then you train to be prepared to win in this moment, but it’s not a guarantee. You don’t win until that final point is over. It’s important to share those emotions with the crowd.”
Bouchard will retire next week in Canada and was pleased for one last meeting with Williams. “To play against her one last time is fun and special,” Bouchard said. “I was like kudos to you to keep kicking it. She’s 14 years older than me and still plugging away. I have nothing but respect for her. She’s such a legend.”
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