At 45 years old, 28 years after her debut appearance at this tournament back in 1997, Venus Williams remains an active competitor in the US Open draw.
Alongside her partner and 2021 runner-up, Leylah Fernandez, the American veteran extended her stay in New York by reaching the quarter-finals of the women’s doubles.
The pair – separated by 23 years and of strikingly opposing heights – are rapidly putting together one of the more compelling backstories to this year’s US Open.
Last night, they upset the 12th-seeded partnership of Ekaterina Alexandrova and Zhang Shuai, defeating the Russian-Chinese duo 6-3, 6-1 in impressive fashion to secure safe passage into the last eight.
The seven-time Grand Slam champion won 14 major doubles titles alongside Serena Williams, as well as three Olympic gold doubles medals.
In the aftermath of their triumph, Williams again paid homage to her younger sister Serena and appeared to invite the 23-time Grand Slam champion to watch her and Fernandez’s next match.
“She’s so happy for Leylah and I,” Venus said when asked about her sister in the on-court interview.
“she’s given us advice and we just need her in the box, so my message is ‘Serena, you need to show up’… If she came, it would be a dream for both of us and we’d have her on the court coaching.
“We’d force her to hit, even though she doesn’t hit often. It’s probably best she doesn’t come because we’d probably bully her.”
Williams and Fernandez – wildcard entries in this year’s draw – are yet to drop a set in the tournament so far, and have already eliminated two seeded pairs across their three victories.
Yet they will face their toughest task yet when they take on top seeds Katerina Siniakova and Taylor Townsend in an intriguing quarter-final, after the leading pair dispatched Yue Yuan and Camila Osorio.
