Venus Williams Win Her Opening Game In Her 30th WTA Tour

Venus Williams defeated fellow American Katie Volynets at the ASB Classic in Auckland, New Zealand, to kick off her 30th season on the WTA Tour.

Venus Williams who is now ranked 1,003 in the world is participating in the tour as a form of preparation ahead of the Australia Open which will kick off on January 16.

In her opening game at the WTA Tour, the 42-year-old won 7-6 (7-4) 6-2 over Volynets, who is half her age, and will now play Lin Zhu of China.

Williams, a former world number one, debuted on the Tour in October 1994.

In 2021, the first year since 1994 in which she did not win a singles match, she attended four events as a wildcard.

The tie-break in the opening set, which Volynets was leading, was stopped by rain, ending her triumph over the player who turned 21 on New Year’s Eve.

Williams secured her first singles victory since Wimbledon in 2021 as Volynets dwindled as the match dragged into the evening.

“It’s hard when you’re all fired up and just suddenly you have to stop,” Williams said.

“I was so mad on the rain break. My coach could barely talk to me so I’m going to try to improve my attitude.”

Williams received a wildcard to the Australian Open, 25 years after she first participated in the event.

The tennis icon, who has won seven Grand Slam singles titles, has never taken home the crown in Melbourne, falling to her now-retired younger sister Serena in the 2003 and 2017 finals.