Venus Williams' pain-free return to Grand Slam tennis means more to her than a U.S. Open loss

That Venus Williams lost her first Grand Slam match in two years — and what she says will be her last match of 2025 — didn’t really matter Monday night.

NEW YORK — That Venus Williams lost her first Grand Slam match in two years — and what she says will be her last match of 2025 — didn’t really matter Monday night.

Certainly not to the thousands of supportive spectators in the Arthur Ashe Stadium seats who roared for her best shots and, in a way, for everything her career means to them, before sending her off the court with a standing ovation after a 6-3, 2-6, 6-1 defeat against 11th-seeded Karolina Muchova at the U.S. Open.

The result also sure seemed beside the point to Williams herself, at 45 the oldest singles player at Flushing Meadows since 1981. She smiled and laughed and joked through her postmatch news conference — until, that is, a reporter asked something that made her think back to all of the injury and illness issues she dealt with for years.

“Oh, what did I prove to myself?” Williams began, repeating part of the question. “I think for me, getting back on the court was about giving myself a chance to play more healthy. When you play unhealthy, it’s in your mind. It’s not just how you feel. You get stuck in your mind too. So it was nice to be freer.”

As she spoke those last few words, Williams bowed her head and closed her eyes, which welled with tears. After several seconds of silence, the tournament moderator ended the Q-and-A session and Williams rose from her seat at the front of the room.