The elder Williams was off the tennis tour for 16 months until making a comeback at a tournament in Washington last month, where she won one match each in singles and doubles. She hadn’t competed anywhere since the Miami Open in March 2024, and had surgery for uterine fibroids later last year.

So perhaps it wasn’t surprising that Williams started slowly. But with her fiance, Andrea Preti, leaping out of his seat after many points, Williams got back into the match, smacking vintage serves at up to 114 mph and finishing with just one fewer winner than Muchova.

Venus Williams, at age 45, returned to the US Open and took No. 11 seed Karolina Muchova to three sets before losing in the first round.

Daniil Medvedev stunned with a meltdown at the 2025 US Open after a tense match against Benjamin Bonzi that ended in Medvedev's defeat

Russian tennis star Daniil Medvedev created a chaotic situation in a U.S. Open match against France's Benjamin Bonzi on Sunday night in New York.