Venus Williams made history by stepping onto the court at the Australian Open but was denied a winning return as Serbia’s Olga Danilovic won the final six games in a row to triumph in a three-set thriller.
At 45, Williams became the oldest woman to compete in the singles tournament after accepting a wildcard into the main draw. The seven-time grand slam champion, who returned to Melbourne for the first time in five years, started well and delighted the crowd by ripping a stunning forehand winner to take the first set on a tiebreak.
Danilovic hit back to win the second set and level the match but Williams looked to be on course for victory, and a first win at a grand slam singles match since the 2021 Wimbledon, as she took a 4-0 lead in the final set.
But Danilovic, 24, stormed back to deny Williams a place in the second-round, winning 6-7 (5), 6-3, 6-4. Williams, who first played at the Australian Open in 1998, when she was 17, received a standing ovation as she left the court but she will also be entering the doubles tournament with Ekaterina Alexandrova.
“It was such a great game, such a great moment,” Williams said. “The energy from the crowd was amazing. That lifted me up so much. She played a great game. Also some luck there, as well. That's just the sport. That's how it works sometimes. But it was an amazing moment.”
Williams did not realise she would be making history when she accepted a wildcard into the tournament. The five-time Wimbledon champion made her comeback to tennis last summer and entered the US Open in both singles and doubles, where she and Leylah Fernandez reached the quarter-finals in September.
Williams married her husband Andrea Preti in December but she said been “training non-stop those three months” before then as she prepared to make the trip to Australia for the first time since 2021.
The American reached two singles finals in Melbourne, losing both to her sister Serena Williams in 2003 and 2017. But she is also a four-time champion in the doubles event.
Williams also indicated that her return to tennis is not over yet, and hinted that she will be playing a more regular schedule this year.
“In a lot of ways I'm having to relearn how to do things again, if that makes any sense,” Williams said. “I'm really proud of my effort today because I'm playing better with each match, getting to the places that I want to get to. Right now I'm just going to have to keep going forward and working on myself and working to control my errors.
“Those are things, too, that come with playing extra matches, like getting your feet in the exact right position, choosing the right shots, all of those things that I'm still learning. It's kind of weird, but it's super exciting to have played that well and to get myself in that position and come very close.
“I'll think about what's next for me. I have the doubles here, so my focus is that right now.”
Williams could have played Coco Gauff in the second round but Danilovic, who was not even born when Williams made her Australian Open main-draw debut in 1998, pulled off a stunning comeback.
“These things don't happen every day and playing against Venus Williams is something that I cannot take for granted,” Danilovic said in her on-court interview.
“On 4-0, I said to myself, 'Just play, just take everything out and just play point by point'. I'm very happy I managed to get this one but it was such a pleasure playing against such a legend.”
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