Venus Williams falls to Muchova, but Wins the Crowd in New York

NEW YORK—Venus Williams’ summer comeback may have ended on Day 2 at the US Open, but the 45-year-old walked off Arthur Ashe Stadium to the sound of an ovation usually reserved for champions, and reveled in the experience.

A win-win for Williams and the tournament.

Williams fell to 11th-seeded Karolina Muchova, 6-3, 2-6, 6-1, in a match that showcased flashes of the seven-time major champion’s thunderous game, and even more importantly, her enduring connection with the fans who have supported her for nearly three decades.

“I don’t think I’ve ever had a crowd that much on my side,” Williams said after the match. “When I lost those first two games, they were just still right there with me every point. Didn’t matter if I was losing and it was starting to roll fast, they were just right there with me, and it felt great.”

From the first ball to the last, Williams seemed buoyed by that love.

“I knew going into this match that people in this stadium, people in the United States, people around the world were really rooting for me, and that felt great.”

Williams made Muchova work for her win. After splitting the first two sets, Williams taking the second with some explosive baseline play, the Czech reeled off the decider with authority, her precision and movement proving too much. But for Williams, the result was never the only story.

Her reflections afterward hinted at a player who still finds joy in the grind.

“My goal is to do what I want to do,” she said. “I wanted to be here this summer. I’m so grateful for all the folks who gave me a wild card. They could have said, ‘Hey, listen, you’ve been gone too long, you haven’t won a lot of matches in the last few years.’ I wasn’t lucky with my health and with injuries.”

There is no grand plan from here—at least none that Williams is sharing.

“There were a lot of people who believed in me in these tournaments,” she added. “I’m very grateful to have had that chance and that opportunity to make good on it and have a chance to really strike the ball. I play an exciting brand of tennis. It’s a lot of fun to go literally hog wild out there and hit as hard as I can. I’m happiest when I can just hit hard.”

Williams smiled when she spoke of how her game has sharpened since her summer return in Washington. “I love playing. The level of my game has come up so much since D.C. I tried as hard as I could to throw off any rust, but at the end of the day, there’s only so much that can really be accomplished in three or four matches.”

Whether this was a farewell or just another chapter remains to be seen. But on Monday in New York, Venus Williams proved again that her presence alone is enough to pack a stadium and remind us all that she’s not quite done yet.