Bye-bye Venus – Time for the elder Williams sister to call it quit

Heart pulsating, blood boiling, mind racing, feet gyrating, hands and racket swinging in tandem as if they were an extension of the body, the exhilarating feel of the crowd at their feet watching on after a well-hit 83Mph ace, and the relief of snatching that last-gasp breakpoint, match point and title win, this match feels and situations top-class tennis athlete are all too well familiar with and after decades of playing the sport, becomes reluctant to let it go and bring a curtain to their career.

Venus Williams burst onto the tennis scene as a youngster on October 31, 1994, at the age of fourteen, an astonishingly young age to debut for a tennis athlete, any athlete even. Williams has since been ranked world No. 1 by the Women’s Tennis Association on three occasions, for a total of 11 weeks. She first reached the No. 1 ranking on February 25, 2002, the first African American woman to do so in the Open Era, and the second all-time since Althea Gibson.

With an enviable grandslam win of 7, (5 Wimbledon, 2 US Open titles) and an Olympic record of four Olympic gold medals, one in singles and three in women’s doubles, along with a silver medal in mixed doubles, pulling level with Kathleen McKane Godfree for the most Olympic medals won by a male or female tennis player. She is the only tennis player to have won a medal at four Olympic Games, an impressive record when you put into perspective the scores of spectacular players that have graced the court before and after her debut. It could even be argued that barring reoccurring injury problems she could’ve even won even more grandslam titles like her younger sister Serena.

At 39years old though, father time isn’t in her favour like it once was and after today’s exit in the first round of the first GRANDSLAM of the year, The Australian open, at the hands of a budding 15 years old tennis prodigy and 66th ranked Coco Gauff with scores 7-6,6-3 (who incidentally also eliminated her from the first round of Wimbledon last year) it seems that the time might be nigh, as painful as it is, for Venus to bow out from the game she evidently loves so much and has become known worldwide for.

She is generally credited with ushering in a new era of power on the women’s professional tennis tour and sadly more upcoming tennis stars like Coco and last year’s Wimbledon winner Naomi Osaka, Simona Halep, and current world number one Ashley Barty, has figuratively taken the baton from her and fashioned their game around this quality , adding a bit more technical finesse even and barring any injury problems seems poised to dominate the game for a very long time.

Being the tough competitor that she is, the thought of sticking around would definitely be on Venus Williams mind but even she should understand by now the importance of leaving when the ovation is loudest and that further losses could further endanger her legacy in the sport.