Venus Williams has revealed plans to return to professional tennis at the age of 43, targeting March 2024 for her comeback. The seven-time Grand Slam winner has played sparingly in recent years due to injury, managing only ten matches in 2023.
Williams will miss the Australian Open in January but has set her sights on the US tournaments in Indian Wells and Miami in March. 'I am targeting March, that's when the tournaments go back to the States,' she said in a video on her YouTube channel, adding that her goal is to be ready when the tour returns to America.
The former world number one detailed a challenging 2023 season. After six months out, she returned on grass at the Libema Open in June, beat Camila Giorgi in Birmingham, then lost to Jelena Ostapenko. At Wimbledon, she slipped in the first round against Elina Svitolina and injured her knee. She played through pain at the Canadian Open and Cincinnati Open, but after a heavy defeat to Greet Minnen in the first round of the US Open, she ended her season.
Reviewing her summer, Williams said: '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.' She explained that after resting post-US Open, she woke up one day without pain for the first time. 'I got up and I was like “Oh my God! I'm not in pain.”'
Williams struggled with persistent swelling that limited her range of motion, but she is now progressing well. In 2024, she will mark her 30th year as a tennis professional.
