"Hats off": Martina Navratilova admits she was wrong to underestimate Venus Williams

Legendary tennis star Martina Navratilova has admitted that she was wrong about Venus Williams' capability as she produced some stunning performances on her return to court. Venus, at the age of 45, resumed playing professional tennis after a gap of more than 12 months in the ongoing DC Open. Interestingly, she decided to participate in both singles and doubles categories after being awarded a wildcard entry, for which she received considerable backlash from tennis fans on social media platforms as well.

However, Venus showcased her class as she won both her matches. In the doubles category, Venus, along with her partner Hailey Baptiste, defeated the pair of Canada’s Eugenie Bouchard and America’s Clervie Ngounoue in straight sets with a score of 6-3, 6-1. In the singles category, Venus defeated fellow American Peyton Stearns in straight sets with a score of 6-3, 6-4.

Former world number one Navratilova recently spoke to WTA’s official website, where she admitted that she was wrong to think that Venus would not be able to cope against younger players on her return to the court. Navratilova also stated that seeing Venus compete at the highest level despite being 45 years old against younger players shows her love for the game.

“I was thinking, ‘Oh, this isn’t going to end well’. And how wrong was I? How wrong was I?,” said Navratilova. “What can you say – because it’s unbelievable. She beat a top-ranked [No. 35] player. I mean, hats off. It just shows how much Venus loves the game,” Navratilova said. “Hope, perseverance, not quitting. Follow your path, just follow your path. If you’re on the path that you want to be on, that you love, you have everything to gain and nothing to lose, no matter what the result is, because you’re loving the path. Venus loves all of it, getting on the court. I hope she keeps going.”

Venus, after securing a win against Stearns, also admitted that the win meant a lot for her as she was not expecting to get the better of a player who is ranked 35th in the world in women’s tennis. She also highlighted that her strategy to attack from the outset also helped her produce the result.

“I mean, the meaning of this win, there is a lot of work that goes into this kind of preparation. I think each week that I was training, I was, like, Oh, my God, I don’t know if I’m good enough yet,” said Venus. “And then there would be weeks where I would leap forward, and there would be two weeks where I was, like, Oh, God, it’s not happening. Even the week leading up, Oh, my gosh, I need to improve so much more. So it’s all a head game. I think more than anything, it’s just about love, right? If you have enough love for it, then you’ll put in the effort, and then you’ll find that little extra little bit at the end because I love it so much."

She continued by saying: "I think I just attacked the whole time. It's just trying to find the right balance between going too hard and not enough. It's the same because this is what I do, but at the same time, it was imperative for me to do it. Now I don't have to do this, but I have the same fire and the same want to win. In some ways, I'm still getting back into that. When you do it every day, everything is natural. Not as natural feeling now, but I hope I can get back to that. I think it was a big win for me today. Like I said, it's not easy. It won't be easy. It's not easy for anyone out here. So I know I'll have to fight for every match, but I'm up for that."