Venus Williams targeting a competitive return in March

Williams revealed this week that her first-round defeat to Elina Svitolina at Wimbledon not only derailed her plans for the fourth quarter of 2023, but also impacted the beginning of 2024.

New Delhi: The former World No.1 tennis player Venus Willams has no intentions of calling time on her tennis career just yet as the American revealed that she’s ‘targeting a return’ to competition in March next year.

Williams said this week that the first-round loss she suffered at the hands of Elina Svitolina at the Wimbledon not only disrupted her plans for the fourth quarter of 2023, but also the start of 2024.

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But in a recent interview with Tennis.com, the 43-year-old said she’s now targeting a return next spring.

“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. 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 U.S,” Williams said.

Williams played three events after that fateful slip at Wimbledon. She lost in the first round in Montreal, and beat Veronika Kudermetova in the opening round in Cincinnati for her first Top 20 win in four years before losing to Zheng Qinwen.

Her last match of the season was a 6-1, 6-1 loss to Belgian Greet Minnen in the first round at the US Open. It was Williams’s most lopsided US Open loss in 100 career matches at the tournament.

Williams played seven events in 2023, as her schedule was interrupted for nearly six months as a consequence of an injury she suffered at the year’s first event, the ASB Classic in Auckland.

In 2023, Williams participated in seven events and posted a 3-7 record, but her competitive schedule was significantly disrupted due to an injury she sustained at the ASB Classic in Auckland, which sidelined her for nearly six months.

She returned to action for the grass-court season, where she notably beat Camila Giorgi in a 3-hour, 17-minute epic in Birmingham. She’s currently ranked No. 408.