Venus Williams seen practicing at University of Washington in surprise appearance

WTA icon Venus Williams made a surprise appearance at the University of Washington (UW) in Seattle.

Williams could be seen on the practice courts of UW with UW assistant tennis coach Mitch Stewart.

Williams is in Seattle to speak at the Amazon Accelerate Seller Conference this week. Her impromptu 'exhibition match' at UW’s outdoor tennis courts on Tuesday afternoon with Husky assistant coach and former four-time All-Pac-12 performer Stewart was watched by a crowd of roughly 100.

Williams, 42, is coming off a first-round exit in both singles and doubles at the US Open. She lost to Alison Van Uytvanck in singles action, while in doubles, Venus teamed up with her now-retired sister Serena but lost to Linda Noskova and Lucie Hradecka.

Currently ranked outside the top 1000 of the WTA singles rankings, Venus has lost all four of her matches this year, taking just one set (Rebecca Marino at the Citi Open).