Venus Williams stunned the tennis world on Tuesday afternoon by beating Peyton Stearns to advance at the Washington Open.
Venus, competing at her first WTA Tour event since the 2024 Miami Open, defied her age to take down the world number 35, winning 6-3 6-4.
As a result, Venus became the oldest winner of a WTA match since Martina Navratilova’s WTA Tour victory in 2004, when she was 47 years old.
The American seven-time Grand Slam champion has certainly proven she has still got the tools to compete at the very top of the WTA ladder, and she could be eyeing up a US Open wildcard spot as a result.
Another player who is over 40 years old, Stan Wawrinka, has also won an ATP Tour match this week at the Umag Open. By doing so, he and Venus achieved something in tandem for the first time in over 45 years.
Venus Williams and Stan Wawrinka match Ken Rosewall and Renee Richards achievement
Both Venus and Wawrinka have proven this week that age is just a number after securing WTA and ATP Tour wins respectively.
As per OptaAce, two players aged over 40 – these being Stan Wawrinka and Venus Williams – have won ATP and WTA-level matches in the same week for the first time since Ken Rosewall and Renee Richards in October 1979.
Richards beat Sylvia Hanika in the first round of the 1979 Phoenix Open, while Rosewall beat Alvin Gardiner, Greg Whitecross and Kim Warwick before losing to eventual champion Phil Dent at the 1979 Phoenix Open.
Venus’ efforts have stolen the headlines, but it is worth mentioning the historic nature of Stan Wawrinka’s victory in Umag.
After all, his 6-4 6-1 victory over Alvaro Guillen Meza matched an achievement of Jimmy Connors’.
Both Venus and Wawrinka rolled back the years, while taking down players at very different stages in their careers.
Williams and Wawrinka’s age gap to their opponents was 40 years combined
The remarkable nature of Venus’ and Wawrinka’s victories cannot be understated. Wawrinka, aged 40, beat a player 18 years his junior, Ecuadorian Alvaro Guillen Meza.
Meanwhile, Venus went one further. By winning her first round match in Washington, the American five-time Wimbledon champion defeated a player 22 years her junior.
Venus, aged 45, beat a player who has yet to reach her peak on the WTA Tour. Peyton Stearns is only 23 years old.
At the Washington Open, Venus is set to face fifth seed Magdalena Frech, while Wawrinka is set to face Bosnia’s Damir Dzumhur in the next round of the Umag Open in Croatia.
