MELBOURNE, Australia – On days when her body is working against her – and there are many – Venus Williams trudges on. It seems the 34-year-old knows no other way.
(Photo: PAUL CROCK, AFP/Getty Images)
This week at the Australian Open, the 14th of her career, the seven-time Grand Slam champion has shown pops of her former self. She’s blasted forehands out of the corner of the court, delivered aces up the T against younger opponents, and turned to the crowd and waved with a careful, cupped hand after two victories.
It’s hard to fathom that Williams, once the goddess of the tennis world, hasn’t been beyond the third round of a major since Wimbledon 2011.
I’m just doing the best I can, she said Thursday, with a smile.
It was that same year, 2011, that the elder sibling of the world’s most famous tennis family revealed that she had Sjogren’s syndrome, a kind of energy-zapping, auto-immune deficiency that sometimes makes it hard for her to get out of bed after a restful night of sleep.
But she returns again and again to tournaments around the globe, an elder stateswoman often in her sister’s shadow, but still with a soft-spoken, other-worldly resilience. She wants to win one more major.
I think sometimes in life you just have to learn to deal with the cards you been dealt, reflected Williams, who made her debut here in 1998 when she was half her current age.
I’ve just been trying to get used to my new life, I guess, she said. I think it’s just an adjustment to getting used to how I need to live now. Just hanging in there is a lot of it, too. The good part is I know how to play tennis and I have a lot of experience, so that helps me a lot on the court.
Saturday she meets fiery Italian Camila Giorgi in the third round at Melbourne Park. Should Williams win, she’ll move a step closer to capturing her first Grand Slam since Wimbledon in 2008.
You know, I think that she’s playing still because she really loves it, said world No. 4 Petra Kvitova, a two-time Wimbledon winner. I think that she’s really (a) true champion. She’s (a) very dangerous player, I have to say. I think she really believes that she can play good tennis.
With the exception of her sister and best friend, Venus’ peers have moved on: Kim Clijsters and Justine Henin have retired; Jennifer Capriati has battled a shoulder surgery; Martina Hingis only plays doubles. But Venus is continuing to stick around, marveled by those near and far.
She’s in a good place, explained sister Serena, whom Venus defeated the last time they played, last summer in a tournament in Canada. She’s done so much in her career. She doesn’t have to win another match.
Yet Venus Williams would like another five, the number it would take to win this major.
Up-and-coming American Madison Keys, 19, described Venus Williams’ reach beyond just the court.
She’s been a huge inspiration for a lot people, said Keys, who meets Kvitova in the third round. She’s been huge for American tennis, huge for women’s tennis in general. Even now, she’s still playing, still dominating. It’s one of those things where I think, ‘Hopefully I can have a career like hers one day.’
And Venus Williams still wants more.
For me, it’s about hopefully winning titles, reasoned Williams, who has 46 in her career. That’s pretty much where I want to be.
And if the title doesn’t come, does Williams play on?
There is a scripture that says faith without works is dead, Williams said. So you have to have faith, but you have work, too. So, I’m doing both.
