Venus Williams Bows Out In U.S. Open 1st Round A Day After Serena’s Epic Win

One day after Serena Williams fended off retirement by winning her first-round match at the U.S. Open, her older sister Venus could not follow suit with a victory.

Playing in her 23rd U.S. Open 25 years after her debut in 1997 as a 17-year-old, Venus was out-classed by Alison Van Uytvanck, 6-1, 7-6(5), in Arthur Ashe Stadium. It was just the second time she has lost in the first round of her home Slam.

Venus, 42 and currently ranked No. 1504 in the world, fell to 0-4 in 2022.

“There is nothing you can do about [rust] except for, you know, not be rusty at some point,” she said smiling.

“So I’m very excited about, you know, all the good moments that I had this summer. I definitely walked out there and did my best under the circumstances.”

The Williams sisters are also playing doubles and will play their first match Thursday. They have won 14 Grand Slam doubles titles during their careers, most recently at Wimbledon in 2016.

“Right now I’m just focused on the doubles,” Venus said when asked if she had any retirement plans.

Said Serena: “She’s my rock. I’m super excited to play with her and just do that again. It’s been a long time.”

Serena, meantime, will play her second-round match against No. 2 seed Anett Kontaveit of Estonia on Wednesday at 7 p.m. in Ashe (ESPN). With Mets ace Jacob deGrom set to pitch against the Dodgers across the street at Citi Field, Wednesday promises to be another electric evening in Queens.

“I think she’s had some time to process it, and she’s doing it the way she wants to,” Venus said of Serena. That’s what matters most is to do things on her own terms.

“Obviously, my hope is that there’s more ahead for her at this tournament.”

While Serena has indicated she will retire after the Open, Venus’ status remains cloudier. Some think she doesn’t want to upstage her younger sister by making any proclamations.

“I don’t think she will [retire],” ESPN’s Mary Jo Fernandez said on air. “I think she loves the games, wants to keep going.”

The atmosphere was not as electric for Venus’ afternoon match as it was Monday night for Serena, when a record 29,402 fans were on hand. Ashe was about half full for Venus’ match.

When she hit a backhand winner early, a fan yelled, “Let’s go, Venus.”

But she got down 4-0 en route to losing the first set 6-1.

Up a break in the second set, a fan began to chant, “Here we go, Venus, here we go.”

But after Van Uytvanck hit a crosscourt winner in the tiebreak to earn a match point, the Belgian closed it out with a volley winner. She raised her hands in celebration and the two shook hands at the net. Williams quickly walked off the court.

“She’s a legend, she won so many Grand Slams so I knew she would raise her level and take the energy of the crowd,” Van Uytvanck said. “I tried to stay focused on my own game and that’s what I did, and I’m just happy to be through.”

A winner of 49 singles titles, including seven Grand Slam crowns, Venus won the U.S. Open in 2000 and ‘01 and has career on-court earnings of more than $42 million. But she hasn’t appeared in a major final since losing to Serena in the 2017 Australian Open final when Serena was pregnant with her daughter Olympia.

She has played in 91 Grand Slam singles events, 10 more than anyone else.

For the moment, her future remains unclear.

“Who knows? Will we see Venus Williams back on the singles court at the U.S. Open next year,” Fernandez said on air.

“I think that it would very much surprise me if Venus Williams doesn’t retire as well at the U.S. Open,” six-time Grand Slam doubles champion Rennae Stubbs, who is coaching Serena here, said on the Rennae Stubbs Tennis Podcast, via Sportskeeda.

“It’ll be interesting to see what Venus does now because I just can’t see one playing without the other,” Stubbs added. “So Venus, of course, as always very low-key, Venus will probably finish the last match and be like, yeah, by the way, that’s it. Like, you know, that sort of personality. You know, as I can see, Venus being like ‘Yeah, bye. That’s it. I’m done.”