Venus Williams targeting Indian Wells and Miami for tennis return aged 43 after injury struggles in 2023

Venus Williams announced that her goal is to make a comeback in the 'Sunshine Double' of Indian Wells and Miami in March 2024. The 7-times Grand Slam champion dealt with injuries in the latter part of 2023 and could not compete after her participation in the US Open in August.

The 43-year-old American played 10 matches in 2023 with a record of 3-7. Despite not playing for much of the year, she had some notable performances, including her first victory over a top-20 player since 2019, defeating Veronika Kudermetova (world No. 16 at the time) at the Cincinnati Open.

Although there was speculation about a possible return for Williams at the Australian Open, she confirmed that she preferred to rest this time to return in her best physical condition and avoid risking another injury: "I tried my best to recover for the US Open. I did not reach my form, so now I am just resting until I get back," the former world No. 1 said.

On that occasion, Williams struggled in her competitive form in a first-round defeat against Greet Minnen, losing 6-1, 6-1: "I didn't want to miss the US Open, made it there, but definitely not my best performance after so much time off after Wimbledon. So, I decided not to play anymore the rest of the year and just give my knee a chance to heal."

The American decided to postpone her return until the US WTA 1000 tournaments in Indian Wells and the Miami Open: "I am targeting March; that's when the tournaments go back to the States, so my goal is to be up and running when tournaments come back to the US," she said.

Williams also explained that her injury began at SW19 when she slipped during the first-round match against Elina Svitolina, which ended in a victory for the Ukrainian with a score of 6-4, 6-3: "I went to Wimbledon and sadly slipped in the third game of the match and really got injured. I spent the whole summer pretty injured with my knee, really struggling with it," the 5-times Wimbledon champion concluded.