The seven-times major champion is making her 25th appearance in a US Open, facing Karolína Muchová in the same Arthur Ashe Stadium she helped christen in 1997
V
enus Williams will take the court on Monday night for her record-extending 25th US Open singles appearance, the Here We Go Again meme brought to life, quite literally as enduring a part of the Flushing Meadows iconography as Arthur Ashe Stadium itself. At 45, two years removed from her last grand slam match and ranked No 610 in the world, she will face Karolína Muchová, the Czech 11th seed and 2023 French Open runner-up who has twice reached the semi-finals in New York.
If the scale of the task before her is formidable, so too is the symbolism of her presence. Williams is the oldest singles competitor at America’s national championship since Renée Richards 44 years ago. She made her debut here as a 17-year-old in 1997 – the same year Ashe was completed and replaced Armstrong as the tournament’s main stadium – becoming the first unseeded player in the Open era to reach the final before losing to Martina Hingis. Twenty-eight years later, she returns with her place in history assured but her taste for the fight undiminished.
She’s the winner of seven grand slam singles titles – five at Wimbledon, two at the US Open – to go with 14 doubles crowns alongside her younger sister. She has been world No 1 in singles and doubles, won four Olympic gold medals and brought in roughly $43m in prize money with countless more from endorsements and outside endeavors. Given her preposterous longevity and pan-cultural resonance, it would not be hyperbolic to call her one of the five most famous active sportspeople on the planet. Nothing left to prove came and went sometime during the George W Bush years.
