Daily Dose of Social Media: Venus Williams trains ahead of DC Open as Daria Kasatkina celebrate LGBTQ+ pride at Barcelona

In a new Daily Dose of Social Media, 7-time Grand Slam champion Venus Williams captured attention after her first training session at the DC Open, where she hopes to make her return after 16 months off the courts, and at the age of 45, which makes her the oldest player currently on Tour.

On the other hand, Simona Halep shared some videos of how she spends her days after her recent retirement from tennis, showing her new hobby: golf courses. Additionally, Daria Kasatkina participated alongside her fiancée in the Pride march in Barcelona, while Roger Federer met with French racing driver Pierre Gasly.

Venus Williams was finally seen back on the courts, training for her return this Monday at the WTA 500 DC Open after receiving a wildcard. The 45-year-old American tennis player will play against an opponent 22 years her junior, none other than fellow American Peyton Stearns. In the lead-up to her debut at her home tournament, the elder Williams sister attended a press conference and was asked about the reasons for her return.

"Why not?" she began her response. "This time I'm really hitting the ball. Of course, I love the game and also the hard courts; it's my favorite surface, where I feel most comfortable. So, all those were the different factors." The video shared by the tournament organization shows Venus Williams working with her team, showcasing some of her backhand and forehand strokes from the baseline as she prepares for her comeback. It's worth remembering that Serena's older sister hasn't competed since March 2024, at the WTA 1000 Miami Open. There, she was defeated in her opening match by Diana Shnaider, 6-3, 6-3. Her last victory was at the 2023 Cincinnati Open, where she beat none other than the 17th seed Veronika Kudermetova.

Daria Kasatkina shared a series of photos with her fiancée, Russian figure skater Natalia Zabiiako, participating in Barcelona Pride 2025, where both showed their support for the LGBTQ+ community. The World No. 18 recently changed her Russian nationality to Australian, a new flag under which she competes on the WTA Tour, making public that the main reason for this move is due to the current anti-LGBTQ+ regulations in Russia. These regulations kept her away from her country of birth for several years after she made her relationship with the Russian-Estonian pair skater public. The couple has been dating for three years and recently announced their engagement.

Both have gained notoriety by showing behind-the-scenes glimpses of the WTA tour, as they launched a YouTube channel together a couple of years ago: 'What the Vlog'. On the channel, they share interviews with several of the top stars of the Tour and show the daily life of a high-performance professional tennis player, with moments of relaxation and fun conversations that offer a closer look at the big stars of the women's Tour. This includes players like Mirra Andreeva, Paula Badosa, Aryna Sabalenka, and Ons Jabeur, among others who have regularly appeared on the YouTube show. The channel boasts over 68,000 subscribers who watch Kasatkina share a new behind-the-scenes update after each tournament.

Former World No. 1 Simona Halep showcased her prowess on the golf course in a recent social media post, as she continues to enjoy her time after retirement. The Romanian tennis player confirmed her retirement earlier this year at the Transylvania Open in Cluj-Napoca, after playing her first-round match and falling to Italian Lucia Bronzetti 1-6, 1-6. While Halep was going through a complicated period of injuries and attempting to return to a good level – following her controversial suspension of over a year and a half due to a doping ban – the two-time Grand Slam champion surprisingly announced her unexpected retirement after the match.

Since then, Halep has made sporadic public appearances, most notably her visit to Wimbledon for the women's final a few weeks ago, where Iga Swiatek was crowned the new All England Club champion, defeating Amanda Anisimova in the final. The Romanian appeared in the Royal Box as a former champion of the tournament, when she had arguably the best performance of her career, sweeping aside Serena Williams in an almost perfect straight-sets final. As Simona spends her free time off the courts, she shared a video showing her golf swing, her new hobby, something several other tennis players and ex-tennis players have shown to enjoy as a pastime, including Rafael Nadal, Carlos Alcaraz, Andy Murray, and Ash Barty. Precisely, the Australian former World No. 1 left a comment on Instagram for her old rival: "Always a spot in our group!! 😍" posted the player who also won the Wimbledon title back in 2021.

French Formula 1 driver Pierre Gasly recently met with 20-time Grand Slam champion Roger Federer, sharing a photo that showed his admiration for the legendary Swiss tennis player. Gasly, 29, made his F1 debut with Toro Rosso in 2017 at just 21 years old and currently races for the French team Alpine F1 Team.

The 29-year-old driver has shown his keen interest in sports beyond motorsport, as one of the co-owners of Versailles 78. This time, he expressed his admiration for the Swiss maestro Federer in a social media post that garnered over 200,000 likes from Gasly's fans.