By Erik Gudris | Wednesday, September 3, 2025
Photo credit: Maddie Meyer/Getty Images
“When you go for it, good things happen.”
That’s what Venus Williams said after asking to reflect on her surprising feel good run with Leylah Fernandez to the US Open women’s doubles quarterfinals.
The 45-year-old Williams, playing for the first time this summer after a 16-month layoff, energized tennis fans in New York and around the world with her stellar play.
The wildcard team of Williams and Fernandez had their run ended by the No. 1 seeded team of Taylor Townsend and Katerina Siniakova with a 6-1, 6-2 result.
Afterwards, Williams shared what she was most proud of in what she achieved in New York that included playing her first round singles match against No. 11 seed Karolina Muchova, making Williams the oldest woman to play US Open singles since 1981.
“I think what I’m proudest of is it’s not easy to come off the bench. It really isn’t, and I have never had a layoff that long. It brought new challenges that I wasn’t ready for, you know, in so many ways.
So I’m very proud that I stayed myself. I didn’t try to play another game. I didn’t try to play it safe. I went for it, and that’s who I am. I go for it.When you go for it, good things happen. Perhaps I didn’t get there this time, but I know who I am, and I know that I can work once I have a little chance.”
Fernandez, who was a former US Open singles finalist in 2021 and reached the third round in singles this year, also took away a lot of positives from playing with the all-time great.
“I think for me it’s just been an incredible week and a half being here and learning so much from Venus. I was just kind of — as I said before, I’m just kind of like a sponge, so I’m just kind of sucking everything in and learning and just trying to improve my tennis game.”
“I think today didn’t go our way, but there’s definitely a lot of positives for myself going forward, and seeing Venus playing on court for joy just kind of brought me back as to why I started playing tennis. It’s probably the most important thing is that I started playing tennis for the love of the game and for bringing joy on court, not only for myself but also for the fans,” Fernandez added.
Williams, a seven-time major singles champion and also the winner of 14 major doubles titles with her sister Serena Williams, did not commit to when or where she may play tennis next. In an earlier press conference, she admitted she’d prefer to play only in the United States, but knows there are only so many tournaments there.
Williams, is also engaged to Italian actor Andrea Preti, and they plan to wed on the Amalfi Coast later this month.
Despite her recent success in doubles, Williams did confirm her focus will be on singles.
“I think after this tournament I can really see where I want to improve, what I can work on. Yeah, I think that it’s all great feedback. But also, I had a lot of chances to play a lot of matches here, which is what I would desperately need to get better.”
“I saw myself improving so much with every match I was playing,” Williams added.
