Venus Williams isn’t sure she’ll keep playing tennis into the fall after her latest loss at the U.S. Open on Tuesday.
The sports icon, 43, who has twice won the annual Queens-held tournament, suffered her “most lopsided defeat” yet of 6-1, 6-1 by Belgian’s Greet Minnen, ESPN reports.
“I don’t know what I’ll do this fall. Definitely too soon to say,” said the seven-time Grand Slam champ, who suffered a knee injury in the days leading up to the match.
That injury, which saw Williams pull out of a Cleveland tournament just ahead of the U.S. Open, was just the latest in a long line that left her only able to compete in 10 tournaments this season.
When asked how it was to compete in the Open without little sister Serena — who announced last week she had welcomed her second child — the elder Williams said she “had a chance to get used to that idea even before she retired.”
“I mean, I was very much aware that Serena wouldn’t be playing the tournament, so I think I was OK,” she said, per ESPN. “I kind of knew that was coming.”
Venus Williams’ latest loss came on the heels of last month’s Wimbledon in London, where she was eliminated on the first day. Williams, who last qualified for the women’s singles final in 2017, is a five-time Wimbledon singles champ.
Had she won this 24th singles appearance at the British tournament, Williams would have been among the oldest women to do so. Instead, she lost 6-4, 6-3 to Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina.
