Venus Williams is 45 years old, but continues to compete on the WTA Tour.
The American legend has featured at five tour-level events since July, with appearances in Washington, Cincinnati, New York, Auckland and Melbourne.
Williams, whose debut in professional tennis was in 1994, has played sporadically at competitions over the last few years.
Before her first-round match at the Australian Open, former Australian player Rennae Stubbs suggested the reason why the seven-time major champion is still going at her age.
Rennae Stubbs talks about Venus Williams’ return to Melbourne
As per Stan Sport, Stubbs said: “I mean, in some ways, yeah. I didn’t expect her to come back [to the Australian Open], especially at this age, but also, I know how much she loves playing tennis, and she loves competing.
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“And you know, she said it many times, what else am I going to do? Why not? Keeps her in shape, [she] travels the world still, and enjoys it.”
“Venus is very low key, though. She’s very different in a lot of ways to Serena.”
Williams lost her first-round match at the Australian Open against Serbian star Olga Danilovic.
The last time Venus Williams won a title on the WTA Tour
Williams has earned her fair share of wins in recent years, but her last title on the WTA Tour came almost a decade ago.
In February 2016, she went all the way at the Taiwan Open in Kaohsiung, winning the tournament without dropping a set.
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Since then she has reached a number of finals, including the championship match of both the Australian Open and Wimbledon in 2017.
She has not managed to get over the line, however, with her singles title tally still standing at 49.
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