Venus Williams makes a triumphant tennis return at the Citi Open

By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña

Former world No. 1 WTA tennis player Venus Williams came back as if she never left and bagged her first singles victory after two years during the Mubadala Citi DC Open on July 23, 2025, at the FitzGerald Tennis Center in Washington.

After facing serious health issues that prevented her from joining the majority of the 2024 playing calendar, Williams returned with a bang, sweeping fellow American Peyton Stearns- 6.3, 6.4-.

Despite the long lay-off, Williams was able to put on a show and turn back the hands of time with her dominant performance on the hard court.

The former seven-time Grand Slam queen kicked off the first-round matchup with an impressive service game and completely stole the momentum when she broke Stearns’ service possession midway through the first.

Williams sealed the deal and went up 1-0 after another hold, and received a warm round of applause from her fans who flocked to Washington to witness the legendary moment.

Stearns fought back in the following set after penetrating Williams’ signature baseline defense but in the third game set, the living legend tallied three consecutive down-the-line winners that sucked the life out of the challenger.

It only took three minutes for Williams to restore order and add more damage with another round of service aces, capped off by a magical sequence that left the fans in attendance in awe.

With only six points away from capturing the momentum-boosting win, Williams scored two hard-earned forehand winners, followed by a barrage of backhand flicks that were generated from the no-man’s land.

Risky, yes, but every point turned for the 45-year-old ace was more of a muscle memory in front of the net area.

“At the end of the day, it doesn’t really matter if your health is not there. So, it definitely put it in perspective for me and maybe made it easier to make the decision to maybe come back out here and maybe play even freer,” said Williams.

Aside from her singles victory, Williams also won in the doubles category together with her partner Hailey Baptiste against Eugenie Bouchard and Clervie Ngounoue.