By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Monday July 3, 2023

43-year-old Venus Williams will bid to become the oldest player to win a Grand Slam match since 2004 on Monday, when she faces Elina Svitolina in first-round action on Centre Court. Win or lose, the legendary American has served to inspire the field by merely showing up.



“The way that Venus comes and fights and still goes after what she wants, it's really admirable,” Victoria Azarenka told reporters on Monday after her first-round victory over China’s Yuan Yue. “I'm not going to lie – once you kind of see her on the court, once you see her in the gym, you can see the passion that she's doing it with, and then you're, like, Oh, okay, I get it. She really loves it.”

Azarenka, who has won three and lost six against the seven-time major champion, says she can’t help but be inspired by Williams.

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“I also take inspiration, like, Oh, you kind of have to remind yourself sometimes why do you do things?” she said. “Because it's so easy to get caught in results and expectations and everything. Then, those moments of like little inspiration, I definitely take them for myself, and I'm very happy to see her, first of all, healthy and playing here and for the tournament and for the women's tennis. It's amazing.”

Coco Gauff, who kicked off her remarkable Grand Slam career by defeating Williams on No.1 Court in 2019, echoed those sentiments over the weekend. The now 19-year-old American says it is Venus’ passion for the game and her capacity for the fight that blows her mind.

“The most inspiring thing about her is the love that she has for tennis,” Gauff said. “I don't think that love has swayed over the course of her career. I think you can see players who are older now. You can have a feeling they probably don't love it as much as they did when they started it. I don't have that feeling with Venus. I hope I'm the same way.”