{"id":14357,"date":"2025-07-21T15:04:10","date_gmt":"2025-07-21T15:04:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=14357"},"modified":"2025-07-21T15:04:10","modified_gmt":"2025-07-21T15:04:10","slug":"venus-williams-45-set-for-return-to-tennis-at-citi-open","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=14357","title":{"rendered":"Venus Williams, 45, set for return to tennis at Citi Open"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>After a 16-month absence from the court and a challenging health setback, Venus Williams is ready to make her return to tennis.<\/p>\n<p>The 45-year-old seven-time Grand Slam champion will compete in the Citi Open in Washington, DC, accepting a wild card into the WTA 500 event. Her first match will be against fellow American Peyton Stearns on Tuesday, July 22.<\/p>\n<p>Williams, whose last WTA Tour appearance was at the 2024 Miami Open, has been practising on hard courts and believes the DC\u00a0event is the perfect setting for her return.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking to the press at a WTA event, Williams said: &#8220;I don\u2019t usually take up wild card offers but this time, I\u2019d been hitting the ball, and I love the game, especially on hard courts. It&#8217;s my favourite surface and where I feel most comfortable.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The five-time Wimbledon champion, who had surgery last year to remove fibroids, is focused on enjoying the experience rather than putting pressure on herself.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>View this post on Instagram<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>A post shared by Mubadala Citi DC Open (@mubadalacitidcopen)<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;My goal right now is to have fun and enjoy the moment,&#8221; Williams said. &#8220;I don\u2019t want to put too much pressure on myself. Success, for me, is about believing in myself and sticking to my process after a long break.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Williams, whose last tour win came in August 2023 when she defeated Russia\u2019s Veronika Kudermetova at the Cincinnati Open, is aiming for her first win since then.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I still feel I\u2019ll play well,&#8221; she said. &#8220;I\u2019m still the same player. I hit big \u2013 that\u2019s my brand. The goal is to put the ball in the court.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Though Williams hasn&#8217;t played a full season since 2019, where she finished with a solid 19-15 record at the age of 39, she has played just 37 matches over the past six years, winning only seven.<\/p>\n<p>Her return this week marks a significant moment in the career of one of tennis&#8217;s most enduring stars.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>View this post on Instagram<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>A post shared by Mubadala Citi DC Open (@mubadalacitidcopen)<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>After a 16-month absence from the court and a challenging health setback, Venus Williams is ready to make her return to tennis. The 45-year-old seven-time Grand Slam champion will compete in the Citi Open in Washington, DC, accepting a wild card into the WTA 500 event. Her first match will be against fellow American Peyton [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14357","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-english-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14357","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14357"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14357\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14357"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14357"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14357"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}