WASHINGTON (AP) — Venus Williams is back on the tennis scene, ready to compete for the first time in more than a year, and while she smiled or laughed frequently Sunday while discussing her return at the DC Open, there was something that would make her even happier: if her younger sister Serena were along for the ride.
“I keep saying to my team: The only thing that would make this better is if she was here. Like, we always did everything together, so of course I miss her,” Venus said when asked about a recent video on social media that showed Serena swinging a racket. “But if she comes back, I’m sure she’ll let y’all know.”
That, of course, was said with a wide grin. Serena, 43, hasn't played since the 2022 U.S. Open, when she declared she was “evolving” away from the sport she dominated for stretches on the way to 23 Grand Slam singles titles and an additional 14 in doubles with Venus.
“I don’t know what she’s going to do. I don’t ask those questions," Venus said a day before the hard-court tournament in the nation's capital begins. "I think we always hit the ball, because that’s who we are. We’re always hitting.”
She said it was during a recent practice session of hers that Serena showed up and joined in for about 15 or 20 minutes.
“She can take six months off and she clocks it clean,” Venus said. “You can’t teach that kind of talent. She’s just so good.”
They both were the best around at one point.
Both reached No. 1 in the rankings. Venus, who turned 45 last month, won seven major singles championships, two at the U.S. Open and five at Wimbledon.
Her last tournament was in March 2024 at the Miami Open, where she exited in the first round. It's been so long that the official WTA Tour website lists her as “inactive.”
“This is very special for me to come back and play tennis,” Venus said. “I think it’s a surprise for the fans — and a surprise in general, as I hold my cards tight.”
Sure does.
It came as a bit of a shock to the tennis world when her appearance in Washington via a wild-card invitation was announced a week ago.
Her team had reached out to DC Open chairman Mark Ein via text in April to gauge whether he'd be open to having Venus at an event she last entered in 2022. He said he needed two seconds to reply: “Of course.”
“She’s such an icon of the sport — and, importantly, both on and off the court,” Ein said in an interview. “So anytime you can have her engaged and have the spotlight on her and everything she’s done and continues to do, it’s hugely positive.”
What did she miss the most while away from the tour?
“All the times that I had and, of course, the adrenaline, all those things,” Venus said. “Just the pure fun of playing the game, the fun of the challenge, overcoming — when you play, you overcome so many challenges: your opponents, the conditions, a lot of times you have to overcome yourself. Those things are very exciting.”
When asked why she's getting back on court, Venus offered a simple response: “Why not?”
As for whether this is a one-stop tour or she plans to play elsewhere, she wasn't prepared to say much.
“I’m just here for now, and who knows?” Venus said. “Maybe there’s more. ... But at the moment, I’m focused just on this. I haven’t played in a year. There is no doubt I can play tennis, but obviously coming back to play matches, it takes time to get in the swing of things. I definitely feel I’ll play well. I’m still the same player. I’m a big hitter. I hit big. This is my brand.”
Venus Williams speaks to the media during a news conference at the Citi Open tennis tournament Sunday, July 20, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Nick Wass)
Venus Williams speaks to the media during a news conference at the Citi Open tennis tournament Sunday, July 20, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Nick Wass)
Venus Williams speaks to the media during a news conference at the Citi Open tennis tournament Sunday, July 20, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Nick Wass)
NEW YORK (AP) — Reviving a campaign pledge, President Donald Trump wants a one-year, 10% cap on credit card interest rates, a move that could save Americans tens of billions of dollars but drew immediate opposition from an industry that has been in his corner.
Trump was not clear in his social media post Friday night whether a cap might take effect through executive action or legislation, though one Republican senator said he had spoken with the president and would work on a bill with his “full support.” Trump said he hoped it would be in place Jan. 20, one year after he took office.
Strong opposition is certain from Wall Street in addition to the credit card companies, which donated heavily to his 2024 campaign and have supported Trump's second-term agenda. Banks are making the argument that such a plan would most hurt poor people, at a time of economic concern, by curtailing or eliminating credit lines, driving them to high-cost alternatives like payday loans or pawnshops.
“We will no longer let the American Public be ripped off by Credit Card Companies that are charging Interest Rates of 20 to 30%,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.
Researchers who studied Trump’s campaign pledge after it was first announced found that Americans would save roughly $100 billion in interest a year if credit card rates were capped at 10%. The same researchers found that while the credit card industry would take a major hit, it would still be profitable, although credit card rewards and other perks might be scaled back.
About 195 million people in the United States had credit cards in 2024 and were assessed $160 billion in interest charges, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau says. Americans are now carrying more credit card debt than ever, to the tune of about $1.23 trillion, according to figures from the New York Federal Reserve for the third quarter last year.
Further, Americans are paying, on average, between 19.65% and 21.5% in interest on credit cards according to the Federal Reserve and other industry tracking sources. That has come down in the past year as the central bank lowered benchmark rates, but is near the highs since federal regulators started tracking credit card rates in the mid-1990s. That’s significantly higher than a decade ago, when the average credit card interest rate was roughly 12%.
The Republican administration has proved particularly friendly until now to the credit card industry.
Capital One got little resistance from the White House when it finalized its purchase and merger with Discover Financial in early 2025, a deal that created the nation’s largest credit card company. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which is largely tasked with going after credit card companies for alleged wrongdoing, has been largely nonfunctional since Trump took office.
In a joint statement, the banking industry was opposed to Trump's proposal.
“If enacted, this cap would only drive consumers toward less regulated, more costly alternatives," the American Bankers Association and allied groups said.
Bank lobbyists have long argued that lowering interest rates on their credit card products would require the banks to lend less to high-risk borrowers. When Congress enacted a cap on the fee that stores pay large banks when customers use a debit card, banks responded by removing all rewards and perks from those cards. Debit card rewards only recently have trickled back into consumers' hands. For example, United Airlines now has a debit card that gives miles with purchases.
The U.S. already places interest rate caps on some financial products and for some demographics. The Military Lending Act makes it illegal to charge active-duty service members more than 36% for any financial product. The national regulator for credit unions has capped interest rates on credit union credit cards at 18%.
Credit card companies earn three streams of revenue from their products: fees charged to merchants, fees charged to customers and the interest charged on balances. The argument from some researchers and left-leaning policymakers is that the banks earn enough revenue from merchants to keep them profitable if interest rates were capped.
"A 10% credit card interest cap would save Americans $100 billion a year without causing massive account closures, as banks claim. That’s because the few large banks that dominate the credit card market are making absolutely massive profits on customers at all income levels," said Brian Shearer, director of competition and regulatory policy at the Vanderbilt Policy Accelerator, who wrote the research on the industry's impact of Trump's proposal last year.
There are some historic examples that interest rate caps do cut off the less creditworthy to financial products because banks are not able to price risk correctly. Arkansas has a strictly enforced interest rate cap of 17% and evidence points to the poor and less creditworthy being cut out of consumer credit markets in the state. Shearer's research showed that an interest rate cap of 10% would likely result in banks lending less to those with credit scores below 600.
The White House did not respond to questions about how the president seeks to cap the rate or whether he has spoken with credit card companies about the idea.
Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kan., who said he talked with Trump on Friday night, said the effort is meant to “lower costs for American families and to reign in greedy credit card companies who have been ripping off hardworking Americans for too long."
Legislation in both the House and the Senate would do what Trump is seeking.
Sens. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Josh Hawley, R-Mo., released a plan in February that would immediately cap interest rates at 10% for five years, hoping to use Trump’s campaign promise to build momentum for their measure.
Hours before Trump's post, Sanders said that the president, rather than working to cap interest rates, had taken steps to deregulate big banks that allowed them to charge much higher credit card fees.
Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., and Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., have proposed similar legislation. Ocasio-Cortez is a frequent political target of Trump, while Luna is a close ally of the president.
Seung Min Kim reported from West Palm Beach, Fla.
President Donald Trump arrives on Air Force One at Palm Beach International Airport, Friday, Jan. 9, 2025, in West Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
FILE - Visa and Mastercard credit cards are shown in Buffalo Grove, Ill., Feb. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh, File)
