Venus Williams, 45, becomes the oldest WTA tournament champion since Navratilova | Venus Williams

Venus Williams wants to send a message to himself and others – about returning from a long layoff, about participating in a sport at the age of 45, about never giving up. Yes, there is only something special about going back to the tennis court on Tuesday night.

And this: She really wants to win.

Williams did this, becoming the second-largest woman, winning tour-level singles in professional tennis, winning some of the big stocks and grounds she was familiar with at the age of 45 while beating Peyton Stearns, who beat Peyton Stearns (22) at the DC Open 6-3, 6-4.

“Every week I was training, I was, ‘Oh my god, I didn’t know I was good enough.’ And then I would skip weeks. Even the week that came, (I thought), “Oh my god, I need to improve more.” “So, it’s all a top game.

The only elderly woman to win a tour singles match was Martina Navratilova, whose last win was 47 points in 2004.

Williams, the former, has not played singles in the official match since the previous match in Miami in March 2024, lacks surgery to remove uterine fibroids during the surgery. She has not won a singles since August 2023. Until this week, the WTA Tour listed her as “no activity”.

“I’m just constantly praying for physical health, so I can have a chance to be healthy,” Williams said. “For me, a lot of things are being able to come back and try to play (and) play healthy at a level.”

Williams can clearly see and support from the crowds who support her at the tough tournament in the National Capital, and Williams has a glimpse of the talent she has and the skills she demonstrates when she wins all the Grand Slam titles: Seven singles: 14 women’s doubles, heading with sister Serena, while the two are twice as mixed.

Williams told the fans: “I want to play a good game.

In Game 2 Tuesday, Williams beat the return title to start the game and then sent some other big reactions to break out to Stearns, a 23-year-old team who won singles and NCAA titles at the University of Texas and is currently ranked 35th.

In the next game, Williams sprinted forward to shoot and answered with a forehand winner.

The first cheer arrived as Williams stepped out of the main stadium at the DC Open, a 7,000-seat arena that was more than twice the size of her doubles win a day ago. Another was when she strided from the deputy line to the court center for coin toss. When Williams started hitting the ACE at 110 mph, the noise reached a progressive, her past way.

Remember: Williams won four Grand Slam trophys before Stearns was born.
Venus Williams

“She played some balls tonight,” Stearns said. “She was very good at it, and honestly, I didn’t expect too much. Her service was just on fire.”

Williams also had moments (their fiancé was in the stands) that looked as if it had been really long since she was in the game, including in the opening game, when she fell into love in this way: forehand wide, forehand, forehand into the network, forehand, long backhand long.

Finally, Williams spent some extra effort to solve the problem. She kept the match point and kept converting it. But eventually, on her sixth chance, Williams was powered at 112 mph, and Sterns returned to the net. That’s it: Williams smiled as much as he could, raised his fist, jogged to the internet to shake hands, and then went on the usual post-winning tunes and waves.

“It’s not easy. It’s not easy. It’s not easy for anyone here,” Williams said.