WIMBLEDON, England — Asked two days earlier than her twenty fourth Wimbledon begins whether or not she’s nonetheless excited to play tennis at this stage, Venus Williams shortly answered: “It’s so much fun.”

The subsequent query Saturday was about being on tour with out her youthful sister, Serena, who wrapped up her profession eventually yr’s U.S. Open. The reply: “Not as much fun.”

There remains to be a big-swinging, Grand Slam-winning member of the Williams household in girls’s tennis, and it’s 43-year-old Venus, who lately returned to motion after about 5 months away with a hamstring damage she referred to as “a nightmare.”

That adopted a 2022 by which she participated in simply 4 contests - all in August or September, which means she missed the season’s preliminary three Grand Slam tournaments, together with Wimbledon - and a 2021 by which she amassed solely a dozen.

“I haven’t played a lot of matches in the last few years, and not by choice. I wanted to be here and I couldn’t,” stated the elder Williams, who will meet two-time main semifinalist Elina Svitolina of Ukraine at Centre Court on Monday, Day 1 on the All England Club. “So I just put my head down and put even more work in and got myself in a much better position - and that’s life. And you’ve got to deal with life. And I’ve dealt with my life and, most of the time, I come out on top.”

In tennis phrases, which means reaching the No. 1 rating, profitable seven main singles titles, probably the most amongst lively girls - and 5 got here at Wimbledon, the primary in 2000, most up-to-date in 2008 - and one other 14 in girls’s doubles - all along with her sibling. Away from the court docket, she discovered to reside with Sjögren’s syndrome, an energy-sapping auto-immune illness that may trigger joint ache; she introduced her prognosis in 2011.

PHOTOS: Venus Williams is again at Wimbledon at age 43 and able to play on Centre Court once more

“The most inspiring thing about her is the love that she has for tennis. I don’t think that love has swayed over the course of her career. I think you can see players who are older now (and) you can have a feeling they probably don’t love it as much as they did when they started it. I don’t have that feeling with Venus. I hope I’m the same way,” stated Coco Gauff, who burst onto the scene at age 15 by beating Williams within the first spherical at Wimbledon as a qualifier in 2019.

“Obviously, just her grit for every match, every ball. I watched a couple of her matches last week,” Gauff stated. “Just the will to want every point is something that’s inspiring.”

Monday’s match will probably be Williams’ first in Wimbledon’s major stadium since 2017, when she reached the ultimate earlier than shedding to Garbiñe Muguruza.

Williams made her debut on the All England Club in 1997, shortly earlier than Svitolina turned 3.

“Venus loves to play here,” stated Svitolina, who returned to the tour in April after having a child final yr. “It’s just really impressive. She’s a great champion. She achieved so much in her career. I don’t know if I will be playing at (that) age and would be in this great shape, playing with such a passion. So lots of respect to her in so many ways.”

The lack of wins in latest instances dropped Williams out of the highest 500 within the rankings; Svitolina has been as excessive as No. 3 and is now seventy fifth.

Both girls obtained wild-card invites for Wimbledon.

The inevitable questions arose Saturday about whether or not Williams has deliberate when she may stroll away from the game (“If I did, I wouldn’t tell you,” got here the reply) and whether or not she may see herself on tour at age 50 (“It’s never been done before, so if there was one to try it, it would be me,” she stated).

One extra strive: Might there be the kind of introduced farewell a la Serena’s, permitting for a collective goodbye?

“Like I said: If I knew I wouldn’t tell you,” she answered with a hearty snort.

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