WASHINGTONVenus Williams first match back on the WTA Tour after a 16-month hiatus was something between a sporting event and a tent revival. With every seat filled around the court where the 45-year-old Williams was playing doubles, I camped out underneath a canopy on the top row of the stadium next door. On a scorching Monday afternoon at the DC Open, I wasnt alone in trying to get a birds-eye view of the tennis legend in our midst. Unlike NBA star and D.C. native Kevin Durant, not everyone was fortunate enough to nab front-row seats. The father of local favorite Frances Tiafoe was at the top of the stands one court over with me, and we were both ignoring the singles match being played behind us. (Sorry, Reilly Opelka and Murphy Cassone!)

Williams return as an active player began with a robot line judge calling her for a foot faulta sentence that wouldnt have been comprehensible when she made her pro debut 31 years ago (and, to be fair, doesnt entirely make sense now). It ended with a sight that felt familiar yet exhilarating: a smashed backhand return that her opponent couldnt handle, followed by a trademark wave and victory twirl.

In Washington this week, in both victory and defeat, Venus Williams has looked like Venus Williams. The seven-time Grand Slam champ, four-time Olympic gold medalist, and all-around American icon has also sounded more confident, content, and unrestrained than shes ever been.

It all started before she took the court. In her first media availability in D.C., Williamswho throughout her decadeslong career has typically been reticent with the pressopened up about her health (she recently revealed that she had surgery last year to remove uterine fibroids), her expectations (Im a big hitter. I hit big. This is my brand), her younger sister Serena (I keep saying to my team, the only thing that would make this better is if she was here). When asked about her motivation to come back, Williams was more cryptic, answering a reporters Why? with a simple, smiling Why not?

As Ben Rothenberg noted in his newsletter Bounces, the veteran tennis journalists in the room came away thinking it mightve been the best press conference shed ever given. And for Williams, all it took to win over the media was being herself. But winning on tour in her mid-40s, 17 years after her most recent Wimbledon title, would require a throwback performance, something it wasnt clear that she was capable of producing. Her previous WTA match, in March 2024, was a straight-sets loss. Her prior Grand Slam match, at the 2023 U.S. Open, ended in a crushing 61, 61 first-round defeat to a Belgian qualifier.

Mark Ein, the owner of the DC Open, told me hes reached out to Williams over the years to gauge her interest in playing in the tournament as a wild card. But this year, it was Williams who reached out to him to see if that offer was still on the table. He told her that it was. And then, two weeks ago, she confirmed she was ready, Ein said. Although he took some criticism for giving a 45-year-old an opportunity that might be better utilized by an up-and-coming player, Ein said, my view was that if Venus Williams tells me shes ready to compete, then Im going to take her at her word.

That doubles match, in which Williams played alongside D.C. native Hailey Baptiste, proved that her big-hitting brand was still intact. But singles is a different sport, requiring a different level of mobility. On the mens side, theres only one fortysomething, 40-year-old Stan Wawrinka, whos currently ranked in the top 1,000. On the womens side, theres no one. At least, there wasnt until Williams took on Peyton Stearns on Tuesday night.

Williams started out that match in the least auspicious way possible, losing four points in a row on her own serve. When she hit a backhand long to drop the game, she looked befuddled, as if the ball werent following her very clear orders. Then, suddenly, it started to listenand the crowd began to roar.

The first point of the next game ended with a scorching forehand winner down the line. Soon, Williams had broken back. And she was chasing down drop shots, clocking serves, and bashing groundstrokes around and through her overwhelmed 23-year-old opponent, who happens to be ranked No. 35 in the world.

After an hour and 37 minutes, it was over: a 63, 64 win for the 45-year-old, making her the oldest woman since Martina Navratilova in 2004 to win a main-tour singles match. A few minutes later, she likely became the first player to exclaim, while laughing, in a postvictory interview, I had to come back for the insurance, because they informed me earlier this year that Im on COBRA!

Given her success in pushing Grand Slams to offer equal prize money for women, perhaps Williams next move will be leading the charge for health care reform. (Bernie Sanders would approve.) But throughout her life, on her own and alongside her sister, shes just as often led by example: as a Black woman in a country club sport, as an unapologetic champion, and as an athlete with interests and expertise that extend well beyond tennis. Now, as a middle-aged woman in a game in which youth is almost always served, her resistance to timelines inspired everyone from Coco Gauff to Billie Jean King. And on the grounds at the DC Openan event that Williams doubles teammate Hailey Baptiste rightly called the Blackest tournament on tourher mere presence was cause for exultation.

During her second-round match on Thursday night against Polands Magdalena Frech, the crowd cheered when she got out of her chair, when she won a point, andsometimeswhen it looked as if she might win a point. (In the middle of the second set, the chair umpire had to make an announcement: No crying out while the ball is still in play.) The man sitting in front of me was capturing the entire thing on FaceTime, streaming the match for a fan who couldnt be there. When Williams hit a forehand winner, someone shouted, Love you, V! as if it wasnt already obvious.

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This time, Williams 27-year-old opponent wasnt overwhelmed by the moment. Williams legs were also looking heavier, and her first serve never really popped. In the end, it was a straightforward victory for Frech, 62, 62, albeit one that ended with the losing player doing her trademark victory twirl, acknowledging both the crowd and the audacity of her still-active playing career.

In the pressroom afterward, Williams admitted that she ran out of gas after playing four matches in four days. (The previous afternoon, she had lost her second-round doubles match in a third-set tiebreak.) I dont know what match I would have played tomorrow, she said. Hopefully I would have had enough time to recover and do it again. Well never know. In some alternate universe, I won this match.

In this universe, she plans to keep on playing, with a live ranking thats now in the top 650 and on the rise. Her next stop will be the Cincinnati Open in early August, then the U.S. Open, where she is on the entry list for the mixed doubles event and (Im guessing) will get a wild card to play singles. Looking forward, she said, I know exactly what I need to work on, where I can improve. The good news is Im always in control of the point.

When the night was over, Ein, the tournament owner, delighted in what shed done and what hed seen. She came out here and she was playing at a world-class level, he said. So everyone who wasnt sure they were gonna give her a wild card now has decided they want to do it. And thats great.

And what if Serena Williams, now 43, called him up next year to say she wanted to join the party and get a wild card herself? Shes got it, Ein said. 100 percent.

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