Venus
Williams joked on her YouTube channel about being unemployed after her
elimination from
Wimbledon.
The 7-time
Grand Slam champion returned to WTA tournaments after a nearly 6-month absence.
Williams participated in the ASB Classic in early January, but an injury forced
her to take a break from the courts until the grass season.
She
surprised everyone at the Birmingham Open by defeating Italian Camila Giorgi in
the first round, proving that at 43 years old, she still has the level to
compete on the WTA tour. Her highly anticipated participation in Wimbledon, her
24th appearance, came with a wild card.
She made
her debut against Ukrainian
Elina Svitolina, who also received a wild card, and
was defeated 6-4, 6-3 in an hour and a half of play. Svitolina went on to reach
the semifinals of the tournament.
On her
YouTube channel, Williams uploaded a video showcasing her days at SW19 and
reflected on the past two years in which injuries have prevented her from
having consistent participation in tournaments. Despite this, she remains
motivated to compete.
"I
find myself here, unemployed again. I spent the last couple of years
unemployed, trying to get back to tennis. Crawl my way back. Claw, clutch,
fight all that stuff," former world No. 1 said.
"I
found myself and find myself right now in another moment where I’m going to
have to crawl, fight by, do what I have to do to get back," she added.
The
American legend acknowledged in the video that she takes away positive aspects
from her participation in the recent tournaments she played, especially
Wimbledon, where she won the title five times.
“I took a
tremendous amount of confidence from it and I’ve had to do something I’ve never
done before. Try to play a Grand Slam really quickly with little to no
tournament play in the last couple of years”.
Venus
Williams will continue competing in the upcoming weeks as she has been
confirmed a wild card for the WTA 1000 Montreal, a tournament in which she was
a finalist in 2014 but lost to the Polish player Agnieszka Radwanska.