Venus Williams is a true legend, isn’t she? The 45-year-old veteran showed her class by overcoming the challenge of her compatriot Peyton Stearns in straight sets. It was her first singles win in almost two years and it never looked like she was away from the tennis circuit. It goes to show how much Williams loves the sport, still going strong at the age of 45. Meanwhile, not many expected the American legend to have a winning return on her comeback after more than a year. She even proved Martina Navratilova wrong with her performance yesterday.

Like many tennis pundits, Navratilova was concerned regarding Williams’ comeback and didn’t expect her to pull out an amazing performance like yesterday. Indeed, Navratilova was left stunned and made an interesting revelation in an interview on the WTA Tour’s official website.

She said, “I was thinking, ‘Oh, this isn’t going to end well’. And how wrong was I? How wrong was I? What can you say—because it’s unbelievable. She beat a top-ranked [No. 35] player. I mean, hats off. I mean, the meaning of this win—there is a lot of work that goes into this kind of preparation. I think each week that I was training, I was, like, Oh, my God, I don’t know if I’m good enough yet.”

Further, she went on to add, “Hope, perseverance, not quitting. Follow your path; just follow your path. If you’re on the path that you want to be on, that you love, you have everything to gain and nothing to lose, no matter what the result is, because you’re loving the path. Venus loves all of it, getting on the court. I hope she keeps going.”

Moreover, Williams also participated in doubles alongside Hailey Baptiste. The two won their opening match but went down fighting in the second round against Taylor Townsend and Shuai Zhang. Despite making a comeback after a long time, Williams didn’t seem to lose her old self. After her win, she made a hilarious revelation about her health insurance.

Venus Williams joyful day out

While her performance on the court was surely a treat to watch for her fans, the American legend also made her fans laugh by making a funny statement about her health insurance. This came at a time when Williams won a WTA match at the age of 45, which is rarely seen in the tennis circuit.

Beaming with a smile during the on-court interview with Rennae Stubbs, Williams said, “I had to come back because they informed me earlier this year I’m on COBRA. So I was like, ‘I gotta get my benefits!’ You guys know what it’s like. I’m always at the doctor so I need this insurance.” 

However, this wasn’t the only interesting part. After the win, she also confirmed that she was engaged to Andrea Preti. Williams added, “My fiancé is here and he really encouraged me to keep playing. There were so many times where I just wanted to coast and kind of chill. Do you know how hard it is to play tennis? You guys don’t know how much work goes into this, like it’s 9 to 5 except you’re running the whole time. Lifting weights and just like dying and then you repeat it the next day. So he encouraged me to get through this and it’s wonderful to be here. He’s never seen me play.”

Nonetheless, Williams will have her task cut out when she faces the fifth seed, Magdalena Frech, in the second round later today. Can the American legend dig deep in the tournament? Let us know your views in the comments below.