Venus Williams' age gets attention at the US Open but players think her icon status matters more

NEW YORK (AP) — It's a given that much of the coverage and attention devoted to Venus Williams' return to the U.S. Open, where play begins Sunday, has focused — and will focus — on how old she is. The American is, after all, 45, an age at which no one has competed in singles in New York since 1981.

That, in and of itself, is noteworthy.

And yet there is plenty more that is significant about her first appearance at a Grand Slam tournament in two full years, regardless of how Williams plays in Arthur Ashe Stadium on Monday night when meets Karolina Muchova, the 2023 French Open runner-up and a two-time semifinalist in New York.

“I want to be my best, and that’s the expectation I have for myself: to get the best out of me. And that’s all any player can ask for,” Williams said Saturday. “I haven’t played as much as the other players, so it’s a different challenge when you’re dealing with that. So I’m just trying to have fun, stay relaxed and be my personal best.”

Williams made it back to the tour in July, 16 months after last playing an official match anywhere and less than a year after she had surgery for uterine fibroids.

“It’s just really, I would say, inspiring,” said Naomi Osaka, 27, a four-time Grand Slam champion. “My only thing is: I don’t really like how every headline mentions her age. ... We all know how old she is. But it’s kind of more the broader (significance) — how much of a legend she is in this sport."

Williams and her younger sister Serena whose last match as a pro came at Flushing Meadows in 2022, represent an indelible chapter in the history of tennis, yes, but also of sports in a greater sense and even American society.

They transcended the mere scores and stats and win-and-loss ledgers, and made it all about far more than that, including Venus' famous stand in favor of equal prize money for women at Wimbledon.

“She's one of the best athletes of all time,” two-time U.S. Open semifinalist Frances Tiafoe said. “Her and her sister, they’re not only great for the women’s game, not only great for women’s sports, but they are so iconic.”

Their story bears repeating: Two siblings were first taught tennis by their self-taught father and both not only made it to the professional tour but both reached No. 1 in the rankings and won the most important trophies in their global sport.

“People, I guess,” Osaka said, “should value them a little bit more.”

Osaka grew up watching the Williams sisters, then competed against them.

So did plenty of other women, such as Coco Gauff, who first announced herself to the world by defeating Venus at Wimbledon in 2019. After that match, Gauff — just 15 at the time — said she thanked Venus “for everything she did,” and told reporters: “I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for her.”

In 2000, Venus became the first Black woman since Althea Gibson in the 1950s to win the championship at the All England Club.

“She’s (had) a huge impact. ... It's so cool to see a legend still playing, still doing what she loves,” 2021 U.S. Open runner-up Leylah Fernandez said. “It’s not, kind of, to prove people wrong, but it’s because she truly loves the sport — and you can see the kid in her. I love that."

Indeed, asked why she would bother playing, Williams replied: “Why not?”

Williams collected five singles trophies at Wimbledon and also won the U.S. Open in 2000 and 2001. That's aside from 14 Grand Slam titles in women's doubles — all with Serena — and two in mixed doubles, an event she returned to at Flushing Meadows this week.

Since the Williams sisters came on the scene — Venus made her professional debut in 1994, when she was 14; Serena, who is 15 months younger, would soon follow and ended up with 23 major singles titles — they set an example for kids who looked like them and wanted to play tennis.

Last month in Washington, Williams took pride in noticing that there were three Black women competing on the court when she played — and won, by the way — a doubles match during the first event of her comeback.

“It’s amazing that now African-American girls know they can play tennis, that that’s an option, an opportunity for them to be out there, too, on the court, in whatever capacity,” she said, “whether you get to the pros, whether you play college or whether you just learn from the sport.”

Venus Williams fist bumps her partner Reilly Opelka during the mixed doubles competition of the U.S. Open tennis tournament in New York, Tuesday, Aug. 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)

FILE - Venus Williams laughs as she holds the Women's Singles trophy on the Centre Court at Wimbledon Saturday, July 8, 2000. (AP Photo/Adam Butler, file)

FILE - United States' Serena Williams, left, embraces her sister, Venus, as she celebrates after winning the women's singles final at the Australian Open tennis championships in Melbourne, Australia, Saturday, Jan. 28, 2017. (AP Photo/Dita Alangkara, File)

Venus Williams returns a shot during the mixed doubles competition of the U.S. Open tennis tournament in New York, Tuesday, Aug. 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)

Venus Williams returns a shot during the mixed doubles competition of the U.S. Open tennis tournament in New York, Tuesday, Aug. 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)

BANGKOK (AP) — Myanmar’s parliament on Friday elected Min Aung Hlaing, a general who ousted Aung San Suu Kyi’s civilian government in 2021 and kept an iron grip on power for the past five years, as the country’s new president.

The move marks a nominal return to an elected government but is widely considered as an effort to keep the army in power after an election organized by the military that opponents and independent observers deemed neither free nor fair, and as civil war rages.

Transitioning to an elected government is also seen as a way to improve frosty relations with some Southeast Asian neighbors following the military takeover. China and Russia have supported the military administration, while Western powers imposed sanctions.

Min Aung Hlaing was one of three nominees for the president’s post, but was virtually guaranteed the job as lawmakers from military-backed parties and appointed members from the army hold a commanding majority in parliament.

The vote was held in the newly renovated parliament building in the capital, Naypyitaw, which was damaged in last year’s earthquake.

Aung Lin Dwe, speaker of parliament’s combined upper and lower house, announced that Min Aung Hlaing won 429 out of the 584 votes.

The two runners-up become vice presidents. Nyo Saw, a former general, had served as an adviser to Min Aung Hlaing, and Nan Ni Ni Aye, an ethnic Karen politician from the pro-military Union Solidarity and Development Party, will be the country’s first female vice president. All three are expected to be inaugurated next week.

Min Aung Hlaing, who holds the rank of senior general, earlier this week relinquished his post of commander-in-chief because the constitution prohibits the president from simultaneously holding the top military position. A close aide, Gen. Ye Win Oo, took over the powerful job.

Meanwhile, much of the country remains enmeshed in a bloody civil war.

Nay Phone Latt, a spokesperson for the National Unity Government — Myanmar’s main opposition organization, which views itself as the country’s legitimate government — charged that Min Aung Hlaing is responsible for numerous war crimes, and his easy assumption of the presidency proved that the political change some countries had hoped for will not materialize.

“Myanmar people do not accept it. The revolution will continue with great momentum,” he told The Associated Press..

The 69-year-old Min Aung Hlaing had been the military chief since 2011. Under the military-imposed constitution, he held significant powers even before overthrowing Suu Kyi’s government.

Parliament members were elected in three phases in December and January. Major opposition parties, including Suu Kyi’s former ruling National League for Democracy, were either blocked from running or refused to compete under conditions they deemed unfair. Suu Kyi, 80, is serving a 27-year prison term on charges widely viewed as politically motivated.

Myanmar was under military rule from 1962 to 2016, when Suu Kyi’s party won a landslide election victory. It won an even greater mandate in the 2020 polls, but the army staged a takeover in 2021 before the new parliament could convene.

Peaceful protests against military rule were then put down with deadly force, pushing pro-democracy activists to turn to armed resistance and ally themselves with ethnic minority groups who have been battling for greater autonomy for decades.

Security concerns meant voting in the recent election could be held in only 263 of the country’s 330 townships.

Nearly 8,000 activists and civilians have been killed since the 2021 army takeover, and some 22,872 political detainees are imprisoned, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, an independent group that tracks rights violations.

The military’s major reliance on airstrikes — 1,140 strikes in 2025 alone, according to the U.S.-based Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project — accounts for hundreds of civilian casualties.

“If Min Aung Hlaing thinks that an official civilian title will shield him from prosecution for the many grave violations of international law that he is accused of overseeing as head of the military, that is not how international justice works," Amnesty International Myanmar researcher Joe Freeman said in statement.

The International Criminal Court in The Hague in 2024 began an investigation into charges of crimes against humanity after the chief prosecutor applied for an arrest warrant for Min Aung Hlaing over the military’s brutal persecution of the Rohingya minority.

At long-awaited hearings at the International Court of Justice in January this year, Myanmar defended itself against accusations that it was responsible for genocide against the Rohingya. The West African country of Gambia first filed the case in 2019.

Parliament chairman Aung Lin Dwe, center, arrives for a session of Union Parliament in Naypyitaw, Myanmar, Friday, April 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Aung Shine Oo)

FILE - Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, head of Myanmar's military council, inspects officers during a parade to commemorate Myanmar's 78th Armed Forces Day in Naypyitaw, Myanmar, March 27, 2023. (AP Photo/Aung Shine Oo, File)

Myanmar's military representatives and lawmakers arrive to attend a session at Union parliament in Naypyitaw, Myanmar, Friday, April 3, 2026.(AP Photo/Aung Shine Oo)

Myanmar's military representatives arrive for a session at Union parliament in Naypyitaw, Myanmar, Thursday, April 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Aung Shine Oo)

Myanmar's military representatives arrive for a session at Union parliament in Naypyitaw, Myanmar, Friday, April 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Aung Shine Oo)

Parliament chairman Aung Lin Dwe arrives for a session of Union Parliament in Naypyitaw, Myanmar, Friday, April 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Aung Shine Oo)

Parliament chairman Aung Lin Dwe, center, arrives for a session of Union Parliament in Naypyitaw, Myanmar, Friday, April 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Aung Shine Oo)