Venus Williams will return to the clay court at Roland-Garros for the first time in five years, amid her comeback to tennis following a lengthy health battle.
The 45-year-old will compete in the doubles competition at the French Open alongside Hailey Baptiste, 24, whom she partnered with at the 2025 DC Open.
Venus last competed at the French Open in 2021, and snagged doubles wins there in 1999 and 2010 with her sister, Serena Williams. Prior to that, she lost the singles final to Serena in 2002.
© Getty ImagesThe athlete will not play in the women's singles competition at the French Open. The news of her resurgence comes just four months after she became the oldest woman to play in the Australian Open main draw in January.
Although Venus lost to Olga Danilovic in the first round, she shared in a post-match interview that she was glad to be back on the court. "It was such a great game, such a great moment. The energy from the crowd was amazing. That lifted me up so much," the tennis champ said.
"She played a great game. Also, some luck there, as well. That's just the sport. That's how it works sometimes. But it was an amazing moment."
© Getty ImagesVenus suffered from a debilitating health battle before returning to tennis due to her uterine fibroids, and had them removed in 2024. She recalled to NYU Langone Health that the fibroids had taken a serious toll on her health, career and wellbeing for almost 30 years, as she lived with symptoms like intense cramps, heavy bleeding, nausea and anemia.
"I didn't associate the fibroids with my symptoms. I had no idea that fibroids had symptoms," she said. "No one ever explained that to me, so I didn't connect these issues to something that could be treated. I didn't know I was living with something out of the ordinary, and I think that's a real problem."
© InstagramThings got so bad for Venus that she collapsed in the locker room during Wimbledon in 2016, and her sister ran for help. "I was in so much pain, my sister took matters into her own hands and brought in a doctor to help me get off the floor," she recalled. "But that was a turning point for me, when things started to get really bad."
© AFP via Getty ImagesThe star shared on The Jennifer Hudson Show that it was "honestly frightening" to make a comeback after recovering from her myomectomy. "It was so stressful. I know that I can play, but it's one thing to get out there and execute it, and then to execute it quickly without not a lot of time to get it right," she said.
"And also, going into it, my body let me down so many times, so recovering from trauma, like when I got out there, I didn't really believe in my body…So it makes you believe less in yourself. So I had a lot of learning [to do] this summer. It was thrilling, exhilarating, frightening, but I loved every minute of it. I learned so much. It was just one of the best times of my life."
