“I’m just constantly praying for good health, so that way I could have an opportunity to play with good health,” a jubilant Venus Williams said after her comeback win this year. The 45-year-old and 7-time slam queen played her first professional event nearly two months ago in Washington, D.C. and since then, she hasn’t looked back. Though a title is still elusive upon her return, her zeal for continuing her run on the court hasn’t slowed down. In the last two months, she’s appeared in Cincinnati and New York. But her end goal might be way bigger after all. Is another milestone waiting for the WTA icon?

How about the 2028 Olympics? Thus far, Williams has played in the following editions of the Olympics: 2000 Sydney, 2004 Athens, 2008 Beijing, 2012 London, and 2016 Rio. Overall, she has won four gold medals and one silver medal for her campaigns. Even in her last Olympics appearance, nine years ago, she won the silver medal in doubles playing with younger sister and 23-time slam queen Serena Williams. But the question begs – Is there any possibility of her appearing in Los Angeles three years from now?

Williams’ calm demeanor added a tease, “Nothing is impossible,” while underlining that “I would have to just keep the motivation to stay on the court that long, and we’ll see. Nothing’s impossible.” as reported by Parade on September 16. Simply put, she’s very much looking forward to play in her sixth overall Olympics.

Now here comes the interesting part. Suppose Venus sticks to her plan for 2028 in LA, she will go on to become the oldest tennis player to take part in an Olympics edition, thereby dethroning 18-time Slam queen and WTA legend Martina Navratilova. She was 47-years-old when she played in 2004 in Athens.

William’s return to the court this year has been nothing short of inspirational. Why? After the Miami Open last season, she took a long, indefinite break from professional tennis. While injuries were the reason, the former World No.1 also faced a setback that seemed larger than life. Especially with respect to her well-being. “It just got too bad”, so much so that she “couldn’t handle it”.

Venus Williams’ return to tennis following her health scare

For the uninitiated, Venus Williams suffered from uterine fibroids. Its symptoms include severe pain, nausea, and menorrhagia, in layman terms, heavy bleeding during menstruation. While she was away from tennis for a year, the 45-year-old realized that she was not okay. To confirm her doubts, she sought medical help. To her surprise, however, the doctor never addressed the symptoms and what they actually meant.

During an interview with TODAY, she recalled being utterly frustrated with the fact that her own doctor wouldn’t listen to her. “It just got too bad, and I couldn’t handle it. (I started) taking something a lot stronger that was prescription, which is not ideal because it’s hard to train on that or be in your right mind.”

“I’m sharing now because I was outraged that I didn’t know this was possible. I didn’t know what was wrong with me,” she added. “No one should have to go through this.” Since 2011, fibroids had been a pesky part of her wellbeing. It also caused a hindrance during her 2016 Wimbledon campaign. Back then, she was set to play doubles with younger sister and 23-time slam winner Serena Williams.

Upon her return this year, Venus Williams made it seem as though she never left the court. Yes, she’s failed to make deep runs in events like the Citi Open, Cincinnati Open, and US Open, but this doesn’t define her caliber. It will be intriguing to see how long she will continue to swing that racket and let her dominating strokes do the talking.