Venus Williams insists that she is not a good double player. The 14 major championships that they and Serena won together tell a different story.
Without her younger sister by her side, Williams showed on Thursday that she still has it. Williams won a women’s doubles competition in the US Open for the first time in more than a decade, together with Leylah Fernandez to beat the sixth placed pair of Lyudmyla Kichenok and Ellen Perez 7-6 (4), 6-3.
When it was over, 45-year-old Williams did her characteristic Twirl-and-Wave and Fernandez called ‘the best partner with whom I have ever played-out Serena’. The 22-year-old Canadian even reminded Venus of Serena.
“Our energy really corresponded to each other in terms of determination, in terms of not giving up, in terms of really still focused and bered in everything,” said Williams. “That felt great because I never really played with a partner – outside of Serena, of course – who had that kind of mentality, so it was really fun.”
Williams and Fernandez, the 2021 singles second at Flushing Meadows, were tough fan favorites in an almost full of Louis Armstrong Stadium, and the chair referee had to ask the crowd several times to calm down.
The spectators gave Williams and Fernandez a standing ovation after they had demanded the opening breaker, despite finding out 5-2 in that set and rose Rose to Clep after the game ended in 90 minutes.
‘Leylah is a good player, [and] Venus is also a good double player, “said Kichenok.” They have often played double. They know what it is. Perhaps it took some time to adjust in the beginning, but then they found their rhythm. ‘
During the competition there were songs of “here we go, venus, here we go!” And a sign in the stands was: “Welcome to the Williams Show.”
“Wow,” said Williams in her interview on the field. “Thanks, guys. Thanks for showing up for us.”
Williams had not won women’s doubles in New York since 2014, when she and Serena reached the quarterfinals, or at a Grand Slam tournament since the French Open 2018.
“It is an area that I am not so comfortable in, on a double court, but I think you will come to a certain point in the competition that you don’t think about,” Williams said. “If Push comes to push, I will do what I have to do, but I am a singles player, so when I walk there, I actually tell myself to myself to play singles and try that method. I don’t try to be something I am not.”
The older Williams won seven Grand Slam titles in singles and another two in mixed Doubles. She had been from the tour for 16 months until she returned to action by playing singles and double in July in Washington.
“With the amount of matches I played, I am going very quickly,” said Williams. “I didn’t have to come back to play tennis, but in the end I found my way back.”
At Flushing Meadows, Williams lost in the first round of mixed Doubles and Singles and then received a wildcard for women’s doubles. Fernandez described feeling “like a child on Christmas Day” and jumped around with a smile on her face after he received the call that Williams wanted to play double with her.
She was shocked to hear the comparison with Serena.
“It is probably the biggest compliment I have ever received,” said Fernandez. “I feel that they are big shoes to fill.”
Back in Dubbels on the US Open for the first time since 2022, Williams is allowed to continue in New York after pushing the 11th placed Karolina Muchova to three sets before he bends out of Singles that plays on Monday evening. Ulrikke Eikeri and Eri Hozumi are the next in the second double round.
“I actually feel great,” said Williams. “With a little luck, we will stay, maybe win a new round and just get better and better.”
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