Tennis star Venus Williams, whose sister Serena Williams retired from the sport in 2022, recently attended the 2025 Miami Open and teased that she might not be done on the court.
Venus Williams may not be putting her racket down just yet.
Though the seven-time Grand Slam singles champion simply attended the Miami Open tournament last month as a spectator, she hasn’t ruled out returning to the sport as a competitor in the future.
“It's actually pretty motivating to come back and see the competition,” Venus said in an April 1 recap video of her time at the WTA tournament. “I loved this part of my life. People look at me like, ‘Are you playing? I’m like, ‘No, I’m not.’ And they're like, ‘When are you playing?’”
And in response to that question of professional tennis being part of her future, she added, “I really don't have a plan for the first time in my life. As an athlete and a player, there's a whole plan [like], ‘I'm gonna play this tournament and play these tournaments so I'd be ready for that tournament.’”
The 44-year-old continued, “Now it's like, ‘Oh, I love playing. I'm gonna play every day.’ And if I feel ready to play, then I'll play.”
Later in the video recap, Venus—who helped out fellow tennis star Ons Jabeur get ready for the WTA tournament by being her hitting partner—teased her return even further.
“I may not be in the draw, but that doesn’t mean I can’t help sharpen someone else’s game,” she shared. “Let’s be honest, I’m still keeping my own game ready, just in case.”
However, a “return” from Venus, who most recently played professionally at last year’s Miami Open, wouldn’t technically be her coming back. In fact, the Olympic gold medalist has never officially retired—a point she had to clarify following her sister Serena Williams’ own retirement from the sport in 2022.
“As that moment gets closer, Serena ruined it for me,” Venus said in an interview shared to X (formerly Twitter) in October 2024. “Because as soon as she retired, everybody thought I retired.”
But once that fateful day arrives, she knows exactly how she’ll feel.
“I always thought that I would be just crying when I had to retire, because it’s all you know and you spend your whole life programming your mind to do that every single day,” she explained. “It’s the first thing you think about when you wake up, the first thing when you go to bed. You dream about it.”
Venus added, “Now I realize that I won’t cry because I’ve definitely given everything to this sport. I think more than anything, I’ll be grateful. I think that will be the feeling.”
While Venus has given her life to the sport of tennis, many have soaked up her talent as fans. Read on to see all the stars that are tennis fans and attended the 2024 U.S. Open tournament.
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