The tennis world was shocked recently when Venus Williams announced that she was returning to the WTA Tour, taking a wild card into the main draw of the Mubabala Citi DC Open in Washington D.C.

Williams was not officially retired, but she had not played a match since March of 2024 in Miami. Her last win came in August if 2023 in Cincinnati against Veronika Kudermetova, but that changed on Tuesday night.

Williams came in as a huge underdog against American Peyton Stearns, the World No. 35, but she turned back the clock with excellent serving and ball striking from the baseline to pick up a straight-sets win, 6-3 6-4.

After the match, Williams had a hilarious moment talking about her return during her interview with Rennae Stubbs.

“I had to come back for the insurance, because they informed me this year that I’m on cobra, Williams said with a laugh. “So it’s like, I got to get my benefits on. I started training!”

Williams went down an early break in both sets to the Texas product, who recently made the semifinals at the WTA 1000 tournament in Rome on clay, but she stormed back with aggressive returning and clutch serving. Despite being 45 years old, Williams was still able to dig in and play some solid defense at times.

The seven-time Grand Slam champion can continue to play in front of her home fans over the next month during the North American hard court swing. While she is not confirmed in any of these events, she would likely be able to secure a wild card at the WTA 1000 events in Montreal and Cincinnati before the final Grand Slam of the year at the U.S. Open in New York if she chooses to play.

Williams is still alive in both singles and doubles after winning her opening round with partner Hailey Baptiste. The two of them will continue their quest for the title on Wednesday against the No. 2-seeded pair of Taylor Townsend and Shuai Zhang.

The global superstar will have until Thursday before her next singles match, where she will square off with No. 5 seed Magdalena Frech in the Round of 16.

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