Venus Williams again on the Australian Open 5 years after final look

MELBOURNE, Australia — Seven-time Grand Slam singles champion Venus Williams has acquired a wild-card entry for the Australian Open starting Jan. 18 in Melbourne.

The match mentioned in a social media put up Friday that the 45-year-old Williams would make a return to Melbourne Park 28 years after her first look. In 1998, she defeated her youthful sister Serena within the second spherical earlier than dropping within the quarterfinals to fellow American Lindsay Davenport.

Venus had introduced in November that she would play in Auckland, New Zealand at a WTA match, the place she additionally acquired a wild card, two weeks earlier than the Australian Open.

She final appeared in Melbourne in 2021 and has completed runner-up within the ladies’s singles twice, dropping to Serena within the finals in 2003 and 2017.

Venus Williams’ file at Melbourne Park is 54 wins and 21 losses. This 12 months would be the twenty second time she has appeared in the primary draw.

In late December, she married Danish-born mannequin and actor Andrea Preti at Palm Seaside, Florida.