When a young star gets to play with a legend, it is a feeling like nothing else and a dream-come-true moment for the youngster. Ask the 23-year-old Hailey Baptiste, who experienced one such moment recently. American legend Venus Williams announced her comeback after more than a year when she decided to play at the Citi Open. Not only did she play in singles, but she also decided to play doubles in Washington. Subsequently, she approached her compatriot Hailey Baptiste, and it was an offer that the 23-year-old couldn’t refuse. Recently, Baptiste opened up about her feelings playing alongside a legend like Williams.

Baptiste and Williams won their opening encounter against Eugenie Bouchard and Clervie Ngounoue before losing their next match against the second seeds, Taylor Townsend and Shuai Zhang. However, it turned out to be a vital learning experience for Baptiste while playing alongside the 7-time Grand Slam champion.

A few hours back, a new video of Baptiste in a conversation with Frances Tiafoe was released, where she made a candid confession about teaming up with Williams. “Playing doubles with Venus, insane! Every ball I miss, I’m like, ‘She regrets playing with me,'” Baptiste said with a laugh, as she truly enjoyed her time along with Williams, even though the two couldn’t dig deep at the tournament.

Interestingly, the stakes were raised further for Baptiste as their opening round fixture saw the NBA legend Kevin Durant in the stands, as he had come to cheer for the duo. Williams and Baptiste didn’t disappoint him as they prevailed in their first match together. “I heard the crowd started screaming, ‘KD, KD.’ I was, like, ‘I’m not even going to look over right now. Let me just focus on this next return,'” Baptiste said after the match.

While it was Williams’ first match in almost 16 months of absence, she even revealed why she was away from the court for such a long time. The American legend battled some serious issues, which she later revealed during an interview.

Venus Williams gets real on her struggles

After appearing at the Miami Open back in 2024, the American legend faced a host of problems. While she struggled with injuries, Williams also had non-cancerous uterine fibroids. Subsequently, she even underwent surgery to treat it and thus had to remain absent from the tennis circuit.

Following her comeback at the Citi Open, Williams revealed, “Where I am at this year is so much different where I was at last year. It’s night and day, being able to be here and prepare for the tournament as opposed to preparing for surgery a year ago. I think my perspective at that time is I just want to be healthy. You can play all the matches in the world, can you do all the things in the world, but when your health is gone or when your opportunities are being taken away, it just puts a whole new perspective.”

After the Citi Open, Williams played in the Cincinnati Open but lost in the first round against Jessica Bouzas Maneiro. However, the former World Number 1 would hope to make a strong comeback when she steps onto the court in New York.