Venus’ stay at Indian Wells is a brief one

INDIAN WELLS, Calif. — Two years ago at the U.S. Open, I suggested that it was time for Venus Williams, then 43 years old,  to walk away from tennis.

She hadn’t won a tournament since 2016. She had just gotten wiped off the court at Arthur Ashe Stadium by unknown Greet Minnen of Belgium, 6-1, 6-1. She looked slow, had little fight in her and was not competitive.

She didn’t take my advice.

Now at age 45, Venus is still out there. She was on Stadium 1 Thursday at the BNP Paribas Open, trying once again to turn back the clock, recapture a piece of her former glory. She first came to Indian Wells in 1996. Thirty years later, she was back.

Battling France’s Diane Parry along with blustery conditions (29 mph gusts), including watching a plastic bag fly over the court in the first set as Parry was trying to serve at 2-2, Venus battled hard. It was only her fifth match of the year and she had gone out in the first round of all four previous appearances so she hasn’t had a lot of competitive court time.

In the end, it was too much for the great champion from Lynwood to overcome as Williams fell 6-3, 6-7 (4), 6-1.

“Well, I think today is not the kind of day that you want to assess,” Williams said. “The conditions are impossible. Also, my match in Austin the conditions were impossible. I have played the last two matches in very difficult conditions.

“In Austin I refused to relent and change my game and I lost very quickly. Today I tried to adjust. It’s not easy. You can’t trust anything that you do out there. So you should get out there and play in that wind and you’ll tell me too if you can create some magic or if you can be perfect or not.”

Parry, to her credit, showed plenty of resilience, none more so than trailing 0-40 in the first set, as the 23-year-old rallied to hold, reeling off five straight points to lead 5-2.

But Venus showed some of her old toughness, down 2-3 in the second set, she broke Parry, lasted into the tiebreaker, the came back from 3-1 to win six of the next seven points to force the third set.

However, Parry broke Williams to lead 3-1, then again to go up 5-1 and held the final game to get herself a nice win over a future Hall of Famer, even though she’s in the distant twilight of her amazing career.

“It was an honor to play against her,” Parry said. “The conditions were tough. I just tried to stay calm and focus on the next point.”

There’s been plenty of speculation that the possibility of Venus’ younger sister Serena returning the court is fueling Venus’ wanting to continue playing. And part of that may be true if it comes to pass. But I’m not sure that’s the real motivating factor as to why Venus keeps playing.

I think she loves the environment of tennis, of being around it, still trying to compete and win. I’m sure she appreciates the support she gets from the crowd, be it in New York, in Melbourne or here at Indian Wells, a place that has not always treated her and Serena kindly. But when your entire life and livelihood stems from one thing, it’s hard to just walk away.

She probably got tired long ago of being asked questions about her sticking around the sport, why she keeps playing when she struggles on the court, if she has any concerns of tarnishing her legacy.

So it was more of the same when she did her post-match media interviews. Of course, this is part of the process she has to endure in being a professional athlete. Whether she likes it or not, she’s going to be asked to what extent does she plan to continue competing?

“Oh, it’s always so fun,’ she said of competing. “Of course, losing isn’t fun, but it’s great to play in front of a home crowd. They were behind me the whole way, and that was really fun for that.

“Yeah, today was a tough one, but that’s sport and that’s life, and I’ll take what I need to from it.”

I’ll say this: Venus played much better Thursday at Indian Wells than she did two years ago at the U.S. Open. She still had some of that old magic left in her racquet and delivered some nice shots in some trying conditions.  

But still, the reality is she’s 45, hasn’t won in eight months, is
0-fer in 2026 and hasn’t gotten out of the first round. But if she insists on continuing to play, if she wants to keep grinding and staying on the court, who am I, or anyone, to tell her no? It’s her legacy. Let her do with it what she wishes.