Venus Williams loses to Muchova in US Open return, holds back tears during media address

Czech Karolina Muchova, the No 11 seed, won against American wildcard Venus Williams 6-3, 2-6, 6-1 at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in New York on Monday to reach the second round of the US Open.

Williams, playing in her 25th US Open at age 45, managed to win a set against Muchova, but the world No 13 proved too good in the end.

The seven-time Grand Slam champion fought for more than two hours, registering four aces, 24 winners and three break-point conversions. Muchova, however, did better and sealed the match on the back of seven aces, 25 winners and five breaks of serve.

“I definitely had a bit of a slow start,” Williams admitted in her post-match press conference. “But it’s not really a bad thing. I just haven’t played a lot of matches, so I’m still finding everything. You know, I was really able to start to dial in. I didn’t win today but I’m very proud of how I played.”

The lights are very bright out there.”

Venus Williams describes her US Open comeback

Williams had only played twice on the competitive circuit before Monday. This was her first appearance at Flushing Meadows since 2023, and 94th at the Grand Slams—most for a woman in the Open Era.

“The lights are very bright out there,” she said, describing her experience on the court. “I don’t think I have ever had a crowd that much on my side. Every point, it didn’t matter if I was losing and it was starting to roll fast, they were just right there with me. It felt great.

“My team and I worked as hard and fast as we could. We literally took no days off. I haven’t gone to dinner. I haven’t seen friends. I haven’t done anything except train for three months.”

Further, she nearly broke down while searching for an answer within.

“I think for me, getting back on the court was about giving myself a chance to play more healthy. When you play unhealthy, it’s in your mind. It’s not just how you feel, you get stuck in your mind too. So, it was nice to be freer,” she concluded, fighting back her tears.

Muchova, ranked No 12, will face the winner of the match between Romanian Sorana Cirstea and Argentinian Solana Sierra next.

New York (Grand Slam), other first-round results (USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, hard, USD 90.000.000, most recent results first):

• Ajla Tomljanovic vs. Coco Gauff
• Greet Minnen vs. Naomi Osaka
• Hailey Baptiste vs. Katerina Siniakova
• Donna Vekic vs. Jessica Bouzas Maneiro
• Anastasia Zakharova vs. Elina Avanesyan
• Sorana Cirstea vs. Solana Sierra
• Ashlyn Krueger vs. Sofia Kenin
• Francesca Jones vs. Eva Lys
• Laura Siegemund vs. Diana Shnaider
• Ekaterina Alexandrova vs. Anastasija Sevastova
• Lois Boisson vs. Viktorija Golubic
• Danielle Collins vs. Jaqueline Cristian
• Amanda Anisimova vs. Kimberly Birrell
• Linda Noskova vs. Dalma Galfi
• Caroline Dolehide vs. Xinyu Wang
• Emiliana Arango vs. Iga Swiatek
• Suzan Lamens vs. Valerie Glozman
• Beatriz Haddad Maia vs. Sonay Kartal
• Victoria Jimenez Kasintseva vs. Maya Joint
• Katie Boulter vs. Marta Kostyuk
• Alycia Parks vs. Mirra Andreeva
• Peyton Stearns beat Darja Semenistaja (Q): 7-5, 6-0
• Zeynep Sonmez beat Katie Volynets (Q): 6-3, 6-4
• Anna Bondar beat Elina Svitolina (12): 6-2, 6-4
• Magdalena Frech (28) beat Talia Gibson (WC): 6-2, 6-2
• Elsa Jacquemot beat Marie Bouzkova: 6-4, 6-3
• Maria Sakkari beat Tatjana Maria: 6-3, 6-2
• Ann Li beat Rebecca Sramkova: 4-6, 6-2, 6-4
• Daria Kasatkina (15) beat Elena-Gabriela Ruse: 7-5, 6-1
• Kamilla Rakhimova beat Caroline Garcia (WC): 6-4, 4-6, 6-3
• Cristina Bucsa beat Claire Liu (Q): 6-2, 6-1
• Anna Kalinskaya (29) beat Clervie Ngounoue (WC): 6-0, 5-7, 6-4
• Elena Rybakina (9) beat Julieta Pareja (WC): 6-3, 6-0
• Iva Jovic beat Aliaksandra Sasnovich: 7-6 (6), 6-3
• Taylor Townsend beat Antonia Ruzic: 6-4, 6-4
• Elise Mertens (19) beat Alyssa Ahn (WC): 6-1, 6-0
• Renata Zarazua beat Madison Keys (6): 6-7 (10), 7-6 (3), 7-5
• Barbora Krejcikova beat Victoria Mboko (22): 6-3, 6-2
• Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova beat Dayana Yastremska (30): 6-7 (5), 7-6 (5), 6-4
• Yulia Putintseva beat Elisabetta Cocciaretto: 6-4, 7-6 (4)
• Diane Parry beat Petra Kvitova: 6-1, 6-0
• Priscilla Hon (Q) beat Leolia Jeanjean: 6-3, 7-5
• Liudmila Samsonova (17) beat Yue Yuan: 2-6, 6-4, 6-4
• Jessica Pegula (4) beat Mayar Sherif: 6-0, 6-4
• Victoria Azarenka beat Hina Inoue (Q): 7-6, 6-4
• Jasmine Paolini (7) beat Destanee Aiava (Q): 6-2, 7-6 (4)
• Anna Blinkova beat Yuliia Starodubtseva: 6-3, 6-1
• Belinda Bencic (16) beat Shuai Zhang (Q): 6-3, 6-3
• Anastasia Potapova beat Lin Zhu: 6-4, 4-6, 6-2
• Emma Navarro (10) beat Yafan Wang: 7-6 (9), 6-3
• Lulu Sun beat Camila Osorio: 6-4, 2-6, 6-0
• Jelena Ostapenko (25) beat Xiyu Wang (Q): 6-4, 6-3
• Catherine McNally (WC) beat Jil Teichmann: 6-2, 6-2
• Aryna Sabalenka (1) beat Rebeka Masarova: 7-5, 6-1
• Alexandra Eala beat Clara Tauson (14): 6-3, 2-6, 7-6 (11)
• Moyuka Uchijima beat Olga Danilovic: 7-6 (2), 4-6, 7-6 (9)
• Janice Tjen (Q) beat Veronika Kudermetova (24): 6-4, 4-6, 6-4
• Leylah Fernandez (31) beat Rebecca Marino (Q): 6-2, 6-1
• Marketa Vondrousova beat Oksana Selekhmeteva (Q): 6-3, 7-6 (3)
• Emma Raducanu beat Ena Shibahara (Q): 6-1, 6-2
• Polina Kudermetova beat Nuria Parrizas Diaz: 2-2 ret.
• McCartney Kessler (32) beat Magda Linette: 7-5, 7-5
• Tereza Valentova (Q) beat Lucia Bronzetti: 6-3, 3-6, 6-4

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