Venus Williams first played the US Open in 1997 and was a 17-year-old unseeded 6-0, 6-4 finalist to 16-year-old Martina Hingis.
The Women’s Singles winner in 2000 and ’01, this year as a wild card she made her 25th tournament appearance.
Being the oldest of the fabled Williams sisters, (Serena is 15 months younger), her Arthur Ashe Stadium first round performance against Karolina Muchová was surprising and “Remember when…” entertaining… It matters little that she lost 6-3, 2-6, 6-2 to the player born the year before the 45-year-old debuted in New York…
It was the beginning of “The Venus Truffle …” at the Open.
For readers wondering about the Williams truffle analogy … truffles are delectable and hard to find… Similarly, Venus has been looking to rediscover her game… Completing the comparison, Burgundy truffles, referred to as a culinary gem (and Williams is certainly a gem…), can be found in The Finger Lakes Region of New York near the city of Rochester, which is roughly a five hour, 267 mile trek from the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center.
May 20, 1990, five days before leaving for Roland Garros (which began on May 28th), was the first time I watched Venus and Serena. They played the “Youth vs. Experience” event held annually at the historic Los Angeles Tennis Club.
At the time, Dorothy “Dodo” Cheney, the 1938 Australian Women’s Singles champion, had won 282 gold tennis balls which are awarded for US National Championship victories. (She would finish her competitive career with an astounding 394 gold balls… the last of which she won at the spry age of 95.)
Dodo, who was 73, played Venus, who was nine, and she later told me, “I remember the match against her very well. Most youngsters her age are pretty petite, but Venus was tall and hit the ball a ton. She gave me a lesson.”
The score was 6-1, 6-0 and Pat Yeomans, co-founder of the Youth vs. Experience competition, a friend and age group competitor of Cheney’s for decades, said, “We had heard she was great, but Dodo lost to no one. Venus was at least 5 foot 10 and so confident. She was unbelievable. She acted like an adult. Nothing bothered her.
“After the match she said, ‘It is a good experience to play people who have played in the past. You can learn things from what they do and maybe copy them.’”
While the first “Sister Sighting…” was memorable, what tennis legend Jack Kramer, with whom I watched them play, told me was something I have never forgotten… “Marko, (as Jack called me) the younger one is going to be the better player…” And Serena was eight at the time.
With all Venus Williams has done in what will certainly be a Hall of Fame career, she is not the oldest Women’s Singles competitor in the Open Era. The honor belongs to Raymonde Veber Jones, a contemporary of Simmone Matthieu, who as Veber won the 1944 “Tournoi de France” (as Roland Garros was called during WWII) Women’s Singles weeks before the Germans were forced to flee Paris. The French-born US player was 50 years and eight months old when she defeated Carole Mae Hunter 6-2, 6-3 in the first round of the first US Open in 1968. In the next round 21-year-old Wendy Overton was 6-4, 13-15, 6-2 better. Three years later, Gussy Moran, of “Lace Panties” at The Championships fame, participated… She was 47 years and 11 months old when she lost to Alena Palmeova West 6-2, 6-3 in the first round of the 1971 Open.
After her match with Muchová, Williams’ stay in New York continued thanks to a telephone call… Leylah Fernandez was supposed to play doubles with Marie Bouzková, but after losing her first round Women’s Singles match 6-4, 6-3 and injuring her left thigh, Bouzková withdrew from the doubles… leaving Fernandez without a partner.
Jorge Fernandez, her father and her coach, suggested she contact Williams who, after the 10 p.m. call, replied half an hour later, and agreed to team with her but cautioned that she (Williams) “wasn’t that good at doubles…” somehow overlooking the fact she had won the US Open Women’s doubles in 1999 and ’09, and had 12 other Grand Slam doubles trophies in her collection.
At 5’6” and 6’1”, the stature disparity was as striking as their shot making flair. Fernandez flourished around the net using her quickness and safecracker hand adeptness to end points…Williams’ languid power off the ground along with her still telling serve made their match playing package formidable… resulting in three notable victories…which was impressive since they had practiced only once before their first match.
Their performance included victories over Lyudmyla Kichenok and Ellen Perez, the No. 6 seeds, 7-6, 6-3; Ulrikke Eikeri and Eri Hozumi, 7-6, 6-1; Ekaterina Alexandrova and Shuai Zhang, the No. 12 seeds, 6-3, 6-4, before Kateřina Siniaková and Taylor Townsend, the No. 1 seeds, dominated their quarterfinal encounter, 6-1, 6-2.
William last played the Open in 2023 and fell to Greet Minnen 6-1, 6-1 in the first round… Her appearance in 2025 gave fans in the stands, as well as those who followed her matches on television, an opportunity to rediscover a performer who has always been true to who she is and what she has accomplished… which made finding “The Venus Truffle” at the Open enchanting…
Title photo of Venus and Serena Williams in October 1990 with Ronald Reagan at the Riviera Country Club by Sports Illustrated