{"id":91211,"date":"2025-08-24T22:10:08","date_gmt":"2025-08-24T22:10:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=91211"},"modified":"2025-08-24T22:10:08","modified_gmt":"2025-08-24T22:10:08","slug":"i-love-my-job-williams-relishing-us-open-return","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=91211","title":{"rendered":"\u2018I love my job\u2019 \u2013 Williams relishing US Open return"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Two-time champion Venus Williams says the love for her \u201cjob\u201d is why she is back playing at the US Open at the age of 45.<\/p>\n

At the start of this year, many wondered when the veteran American would announce her retirement.<\/p>\n

Now she is set to grace her home Grand Slam tournament for a record-extending 25th time when she plays Czech 11th seed Karolina Muchova on Monday.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is super thrilling to be back. It does not get old \u2013 it just gets more exciting,\u201d said the seven-time major winner.<\/p>\n

Earlier this season, Williams became officially considered an inactive player, having gone a whole year without competing.<\/p>\n

Then, out of nowhere, as the eyes of the tennis world were trained on Wimbledon, she announced she was ready to play at the Washington Open.<\/p>\n

The former world number one won her first-round match on her first appearance in 16 months, before going out in round two.<\/p>\n

The victory over fellow American Peyton Stearns meant Williams became the oldest player to win a WTA Tour singles match in more than 21 years.<\/p>\n

Asked to describe the joy of being back playing, she said, \u201cI love my job. So there\u2019s the joy right there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Williams, ranked 580th in the world, is set to become the oldest US Open singles player in 44 years after being given a wildcard for Flushing Meadows.<\/p>\n

It will be her first appearance at one of the four majors since the 2023 US Open, where she lost in the first round.<\/p>\n

Some argue giving a spot in the 128-player draw to a veteran with one victory in more than two years blocks the development of a younger player.<\/p>\n

Others will say an all-time great should always be offered the chance to turn out.<\/p>\n

It could be her final appearance at a tournament where she is revered by the New York crowd.<\/p>\n

Sister Serena bowed out of professional tennis at the 2022 US Open, reaching the third round with a short run that captured the imagination of the sporting world.<\/p>\n

Typically, Venus Williams gave little away in her pre-tournament news conference about what the future may hold.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think I\u2019ll always play tennis. It\u2019s in my DNA. So it doesn\u2019t matter if it\u2019s now or 30 years from now,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cTennis will always be one of the most important parts of my life.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\"'ITwo-time champion Venus Williams says the love for her “job” is why she is back playing at the US Open at the age of 45.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_2277560469115098_106292521332774":"","twitter_aToxNzczMzI3Njk4OTg4ODUxMjAxOw==_1773327698988851200":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,9,1957,3964,7223],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-91211","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","category-popular","category-tennis","category-us-open","category-venus-williams"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91211","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=91211"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91211\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=91211"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=91211"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=91211"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}