Venus Williams does not give up and returns to the field after almost a year

In August 2021 it was Venus Williams’ last presentation, when she played the Chicago tournament and was eliminated against Su-Wei Hsieh, in a categorical defeat that showed a marked drop in her level. For this reason, after that hard fall, the absence of the North American on the fields lasted 11 months, up to this Monday that account broke, playing the first round of the Washington Open losing 4-6, 6-1 and 6-4 to Canadian Rebecca Marino.

The meeting lasted one hour and 53 minutes. In the match, the winner of 49 WTA titles made his debut by winning the first set while exhibiting a good level. However, in the second and third his performance has significantly deteriorated, causing the return of Canadian number 111 to the world, which came from the tournament leaderboard. In the final set, the 42-year-old player found herself in favor by 4-1, but Marino reversed the situation and led to 6-4.

The California native’s last individual appearance was on August 23, 2021 in Chicago, when she lost 6-2, 6-3 to Taiwanese Su-Wei Hsieh.. However, the last match played by Venus – in fact – was in mixed doubles at the last Wimbledon, played in tandem with the British Jamie Murray. In that tournament, they reached the round of 16 and were knocked out by Alicia Barnett and Jonny O’Mara.

Other Washington Open results

While the American Jessica Pegula beat her compatriot Hailey Baptiste 6-2, 6-2, the Romanian Simona Halep -ex number 1 in the world- beat the Spanish Cristina Bucsa for 6-3 and 7-5.

After the game, Halep talked about the change of surfaces after spending a season on grass. “I’ve gone far in Wimbledon so it’s always hard to get started. But I am very happy to have won the game and to be able to play here again. ‘

As for men’s tennis, historian Andy Murray lost in his presentation 7-6 (8), 4-6, 6-1 to Swede Mikael Ymer. Over the course of the bout, Murray experienced cramps and struggled to recover.

“It was disappointing. I think there was some good tennis in the first set. After that we both had some physical problems. The level of tennis was not great” said the 35-year-old Scotsman.

On the other hand, his compatriot, Kyle Edmund -14 in the standings- has just recovered from three knee surgeries and beat Japanese Yosuke Watanuki 6-4, 7-6 (8)., coming from the qualifying round. With this win, the South African native took his first singles win at the ATP level since October 2020.

“There were long periods when I couldn’t see when he would come back. There were times when there was no progress, there was no improvement. But I was willing to run out of every way to return. I haven’t picked up a racket for five or six months. I just wanted to play tennis”, Edmund exposed his serious injury.