Tennis: At age 37, Venus Williams is still rolling as she advances to quarterfinals at Wimbledon.
No. 10 seed Williams tops Konjuh, moves on to quarterfinals
WIMBLEDON, England - Women’s tennis has been dominated by the name Williams for 20 years, and that trend is alive and well at Wimbledon.
While Serena Williams, the most decorated player of the Open era with 23 major singles titles to her credit, is awaiting the birth of her first child at home, her older sister Venus is capably handling the family responsibility on court.
At 37, Williams is looking younger than her years as she journeyed to the Wimbledon quarterfinals with a 6-3, 6-2 win against 27th seed Ana Konjuh of Croatia in 64 minutes Monday.
Williams is the 10th seed, and her quarterfinal will cross generational lines as the five-time Wimbledon champion plays Jelena Ostapenko, 20, the reigning French Open champion, for a spot in the semifinals.
Williams’ last two opponents here — Konjuh and Naomi Osaka of Japan — are 19-year-olds who weren’t even born when Williams played at Wimbledon for the first time in 1997. Ostapenko was alive when Williams played that firstround match but was a baby, as she was born June 8, 1997, in Riga, Latvia.
Williams is not only the oldest player in the women’s field here, but at 37 years, 29 days old, she’s also the oldest women’s Wimbledon quarterfinalist since Martina Navratilova reached the final in 1994. Navratilova was 37 years, 258 days old.
“I think that the game has changed a lot in terms of the depth and the power since the first time I won (here in 2000),” Williams said. “I would say that’s the biggest difference in the game. And, of course, I’ve matured, learned a lot about the game since that time. It’s really a big difference.”
It’s probably a good personality trait of Ostapenko’s that no situation appears to unnerve her on court as Williams boasts such a storied history. Although it was Serena whom Ostapenko idolized as a child, she is well aware that Venus has an impressive collection of seven Grand Slam tournament singles trophies. This first meeting between the two will be Williams’ 100th match at Wimbledon — she has an 85-14 record at the All England Club.
“She’s such a great player,” Ostapenko said. “I will just go on court and enjoy the match, because I really have nothing to lose.
“The first couple of matches (here) were tough,” said Ostapenko, who defeated fourth seed Elina Svitolina of the Ukraine 6-3, 7-6 (8-6) on Monday. “I wasn’t playing my best. But I still won. I was fighting. So I think that’s the key for getting your confidence and playing better and better.”
For second seed Simona Halep of Romania, the stakes are even higher after she secured a 7-6 (7-3), 6-2 fourth-round win against Victoria Azarenka of Belarus. A French Open finalist in 2014 and ‘17, Halep also is in the running to take over the world No.1 ranking.