At age 37, Williams enjoying career renaissance
LONDON — Venus Williams’ mother could not stop smiling and laughing. She had just watched her 37-year-old daughter reach the Wimbledon semifinals for the 10th time and, well, the whole thing was just a bit hard to believe.
“She says, ‘I love my job!’ and she means it. I guess she’s kind of like a boxer: People think it’s time for her to quit because she’s too old,” Oracene Price said after leaving Centre Court, where the roof was shut because of rain Tuesday. “But she keeps getting back in the ring — and she seems to be doing pretty well. This is really amazing.”
Enjoying a career renaissance deep into her 30s, despite dealing with an energy-sapping disease, Williams rode a strong serve that produced eight aces, imposing returns and her court coverage of old to a 6-3, 7-5 victory over French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia, edging closer to a sixth singles title at the All England Club.
“The competition keeps you growing,” Williams said. “You have to get better if you want to stay relevant.”
Somehow, at age 37, she’s done that. This was her
100th Wimbledon match, coming in her 20th appearance. The first of her trophies at the grass-court tournament came in 2000. And now, for the third match in a row, Williams beat a player who was born in 1997 — after she made her Grand Slam debut that year.
“The first one was 20 years ago? Lord,” Price said, her eyes wide, her chuckle loud. “Well, you know, that’s a long time.”
This is not exactly new, though. Williams is the only woman to have made the fourth round at each of the past six majors, and now she’s into her third semifinal in that span. She made it that far at Wimbledon last year, too, before losing, and got to the final at the Australian Open in January, when she was beaten by her younger sister, Serena.
“Who knows if she’s lost a step?” said Williams’ coach, David Witt. “She looks pretty good to me.”
Age not a factor
Williams revealed in 2011 that she was diagnosed with Sjogren’s syndrome, which can sap energy and cause joint pain. As time went on, there were questions about whether she might retire, especially after a half-dozen first-round losses at majors. But she kept going, and with her recent successes, a championship this week would return the American to the top five in the rankings for the first time in six years.
“I just always felt like I have to keep trying,” said Williams, who repeatedly took advantage of Ostapenko’s second serves at around 70 mph. “That’s all I felt like.”
To get to what would be her ninth final at the All England Club, the 10th-seeded Williams will need to win Thursday against No. 6 Johanna Konta, the first British woman in the Wimbledon semifinals since Virginia Wade was runner-up in 1978.
With Wade, the 1977 champion, sitting in the Royal Box, Konta prevented Simona Halep from rising to No. 1 by beating her 6-7 (2), 7-6 (5), 6-4.
■ Women’s singles, quarterfinals: Garbine Muguruza (14), Spain, def. Svetlana Kuznetsova (7), Russia, 6-3, 6-4; Venus Williams (10), United States, def. Jelena Ostapenko (13), Latvia, 6-3, 7-5; Johanna Konta (6), Britain, def. Simona Halep (2), Romania, 6-7 (2), 7-6 (5), 6-4; Magdalena Rybarikova, Slovakia, def. Coco Vandeweghe (24), United States, 6-3, 6-3.
■ Quote of the day: No.6 Johanna Konta, on facng Venus Williams in the semifinals: “I definitely feel that age is not a factor with her. She’s just a tremendous champion, and I feel very, very humbled, and I’m very excited to share the court with her again.”
■ Statistic of the day: Konta is the first British woman in the Wimbledon semifinals since
■ Wednesday lookahead:
A Wimbledon-record five men older than 30 will play in the quarterfinals, led by Roger Federer, 35, who is bidding for a record eighth title. Federer’s opponent is Canada’s Milos Raonic — the third time in four years they’ll face each other at the tournament. The Federerraonic winner will take on either three-time champion Novak Djokovic, 30, or 2010 runnerup Tomas Berdych, 31, in the semifinals. Djokovic is 25-2 in his career against Berdych. On the other half of the draw, two-time champion Andy Murray, 30, plays 24th-seeded American Sam Querrey, who has never been to a major semifinal. The other quarterfinal is 2014 U.S. Open champion Marin Cilic against 16th-seeded Gilles Muller, 34, who stunned Rafael Nadal 15-13 in the fifth set of a fourth-round marathon that lasted more than 4½ hours.