The Comeback Kid: Starring Venus Williams
Some years are good to us; the van creaks less, rides more smoothly up and down the hills, with the wheels coming off less frequently, even when encountered by unpredictably harsh cobbled paths.
Some years aren’t as good; the spotlights get dimmer, the chagrin of your opponents gets louder and louder still is the voice of your own inner conflict, of whether you are good enough to wear the weather, to get on with the grind, survive, sustain and if luck would have it, collect a payday.
Venus Williams has seen them all, the good years and the bad years. The five time Wimbledon Champion, twice winner of US Open and an Olympic Gold medallist was almost lost to the world of tennis, fidgeting around nervously for half a decade now, winning little, mostly through pain brought on by illness and the well-known antagonist in every sport – age.
To comprehend the enormity of Venus Williams’ 2015, which she finished on a high as she won the WTA Comeback Player of the Year Award, one should not focus on her titles, wins or the longevity of her season.
We must instead look into the struggles that she barricaded, to make it to the end of 2015, when she finished No.7 in the world, a steep climb from No. 137, that she had dropped down to about four years ago.
To comprehend her journey back into the top 10, we must first understand Sjogren’s Syndrome, a chronic autoimmune disease that affects more than one organ in the body, a powerful opponent to fight in more ways than one, especially when age is not necessarily on your side.
Such fights change our perspective towards life and it doesn’t come as a surprise that Venus’ Twitter timeline is full of beautiful words like recycling, greens, salads, fruits and a healthy diet.
The older Williams had a fairly slower climb than others. It took her a year before she reached the Quarter Finals of the Australian Open, her first Grand Slam quarter-final in five years. A loss at French Open and her being fined for missing the mandatory post-match press conference threatened to derail her year that was brightened by a 16 match winning streak.
But she continued her upswing, reaching the Quarter-Finals at the US Open, where she looked good until a three-set loss to her sister, Serena in the Quarter-Finals, no loss of dignity considering the kind of stunning year Serena had.
It would take Venus 6 years in tennis before she won her first Grand Slam, but after that, there was no looking back.
Some years disappoint in the way sparks never lead to much, but Venus, at 35, has continued her march towards the better side of No.10 winning two titles at the end of the year including the prestigious WTA Elite Trophy in Zhuhai China, defeating the hard-hitting Karolina Pliskova.
Even before that victor, she registered her best year since 2007, winning the Wuhan Open, a tournament where she defeated three top 10 players including an in-form Agnieszka Radwanska. The title at Wuhan was also special because Venus became only the 9th woman in the Open Era to win 700 Singles matches enroute to it.
She’s currently sitting pretty on 48 career titles entering 2016 at No.7, which means she will get a top 8 seeding at the 2016 Australian Open, the first time for her in 5 years.
Her best year in 8 years, titles, milestones, first Grand Slam Quarter Final in 5 years and a prestigious award don’t summarise Venus’ fight completely or her determination that saw her climb to No.19 at the end of 2014 after having begun at No.47 and continue her onward march.
A vociferous advocate of equal pay in tennis, Venus Williams has plenty to look forward to in 2016 – the prospect of another Olympic Gold, which she has openly spoken of her desire for, and the chance to make a half-century of career titles.
‘How long would it take me to get to 800 now,’ she asked herself after making it to 700.
Although there was an element of wistfulness in the introspective question, one thing is for certain – Venus will give it her everything to keep going. ‘I was put in a position that was out of my control, and that’s life, but if I was going to end playing tennis, I wanted to end it how I wanted it to end, not because I was forced out.’
Such statements are the reason fans voted for her, making her one of the most popular tennis players on the planet. Maybe she has at least another Grand Slam in her. Maybe two, maybe the French Open and the Australian Open to complete a career slam.
Like scripting her own swansong. Wouldn’t that be something?