It was the 45-year-old’s first appearance in Melbourne since 2021.
on Sunday after receiving a wild card entry. She became the oldest woman to ever play the major tournament at age 45, although she definitely didn’t look to be the oldest competitor in the women’s draw during her first round match.
Williams opened up the match against Olga Danilovic winning in a close tiebreak, 7–6. She then dropped the second set 6–3 to even things up. Williams appeared to be on her way to victory when she started the third set 4–0 over Danilovic, her biggest lead in years. However, the Serbian then won the next four games to tie it up. Danilovic won the final two games to beat Williams in three sets. The match took two hours and 17 minutes—not bad for a 45-year-old.“I’m really proud of my effort today because I’m playing better with each match, getting to the places that I want to get to,” Williams said,. “Right now, I’m just going to have to keep going forward and working on myself and working to control my errors. Those are things, too, that come with playing extra matches ... all of those things that I’m still learning. It’s kind of weird, but it’s super exciting to have played that well and to get myself in that position and come very close.” Williams hasn’t won a match since she competed in the D.C. Open in July last year. She had a first-round exit in the U.S. Open last September, too. But, based on Williams’s reaction to her playing on Sunday, it doesn’t sound like the tennis legend plans on hanging up her racket any time soon. We’ll see when we get to witness her on the court next.Madison Williams is a staff writer on the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated, where she specializes in tennis but covers a wide range of sports from a national perspective. Before joining SI in 2022, Williams worked at The Sporting News. Having graduated from Augustana College, she completed a master’s in sports media at Northwestern University. She is a dog mom and an avid reader.
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