Venus Williams to seek 91st Wimbledon singles win 25 years after picking up her first

The five-time champ, who meets Elina Svitolina Monday, owns eight more wins at the London major than her 18 countrywomen in the field have combined.

ByMatt Fitzgerald

Published Jul 01, 2023

Fifty Years of the WTA, Chapter 5: Venus & Serena | WTA 50

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Venus Williams will make her 24th appearance at the All England Club official when she meets Elina Svitolina in a blockbuster Wimbledon opener. The pair of wild cards are slated to duel Monday in the second match on Centre Court.

“The schedule came out? I did not know that. Oh, cool. Let’s do it!” reacted Williams upon hearing the news in her pre-tournament press conference Saturday.

“Nerves are normal. I don’t feel nervous right now. Hopefully we’ll go right through to Monday, no nerves.”

Williams, a five-time singles champion at The Championships, is set to play her 92nd major. She is aiming to win her first match on the Grand Slam stage since defeating Mihaela Buzarnescu here in 2021.

“There’s nothing like the green grass of Wimbledon,” Williams said.

Venus will be looking to snap a three-match losing streak in her head-to-head series with Svitolina.

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Did You Know?

It’s been 25 years since Williams defeated Jana Nejedly for her first Wimbledon singes victory.
Going into this year’s event, Williams holds 90 Wimbledon match wins. Her 18 countrywomen in the field have combined for 82. The run down: Brengle (6), Collins (3), Davis (7), Dolehide (0), Gauff (8), Kenin (3), Keys (18), Liu (3), McNally (0), Navarro (0), Parks (0), Pegula (3), Pera (0), Riske-Amritraj (13), Rogers (4), Stearns (0), Stephens (14), Volynets (0).
Williams made her Wimbledon debut in 1997. None of the WTA’s current Top 3 members and occupiers of all four major trophies—Iga Swiatek, Aryna Sabalenka and Elena Rybakina—were born yet.
The 43-year-old is 20-3 in her opening rounds at SW19.

“It rained for five days in a row. Mostly, I remember sitting in the lounge waiting to play,” the American reflected on her first experience at the venue. “I don’t think it’s ever done anything like that since. It was an interesting year to get started.”

Svitolina advanced to her first of two major semifinals when she made Wimbledon’s final four three years ago. The 2018 WTA Finals champion, who welcomed daughter Skai into the world with husband Gaël Monfils last October, is coming off a Roland Garros quarterfinal run that propelled her back inside the Top 100.

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