Why the Williams sisters and other stars are playing longer
More than three decades after they burst onto the tennis scene, Venus and Serena Williams are still playing at the top level. Why are we
More than three decades after they burst onto the tennis scene, Venus and Serena Williams are still playing at the top level. Why are we seeing elite athletes carrying on into their 40s and beyond? It's difficult to overstate the impact of the Williams sisters on tennis. Now in their forties, both are back playing at the top level, after Serena (44) joined 46-year-old Venus in appearances at the Queens tournament in London and the Berlin Open over the last week. The pair have also been offered a wilcard doubles entry for Wimbledon a decade after they won the last of their six doubles titles at that particular Grand Slam. They have also won two US Open doubles titles, two in the French Open and four in the Australian Open. Between them they also have 30 Grand Slam singles titles, Serena has 23 of those. But her motivation for this comeback after four years out came a little closer to home. "My daughter Olympia told me I should play with Venus. She's always right, so I was like 'damn,'" Serena said. "So I said 'You know, let's see if we can do it'." Serena Williams has returned to professional tennis after four years out Image: Halil Sagirkaya/Anadolu/picture alliance Venus Williams had returned to top level tennis this January, becoming the oldest woman to play singles at the Australian Open. At 45, Williams, was handed a wildcard for the tournament and was 27 years older than the youngest player in the women's draw, fellow American Iva Jovic. After winning the first set, she fell 2-1 to Serbian player Olga Danilovic, in the first round.
She's won one of her six singles matches since her comeback but is looking forward to reprising her prolific doubles partnership. "It's incredible, the quality of her stroke is obviously there," Venus, who unlike Serena never formally retired from the sport, told British broadcaster TNT of her sister's return. "She's, I think, a little bit of a natural, she’s got a pretty good record, she knows what she’s doing and she’s very tenacious, so I’m not worried about how she’s going to play even though I haven't seen her play, which is crazy." 40 but not finished While elite athletes competing into their 40s and beyond is not so unusual in less-physical sports, more elite athletes in more physically demanding sports appear to be able to sustain a career longer now than ever before. LeBron James, 41, is still playing top-level basketball. Cristiano Ronaldo, Luka Modric and Manuel Neuer are among eight over-40s at the ongoing football World Cup.. India cricket captain MS Dhoni was in the Chennai Super Kings squad in this year's Indian Premier League (IPL) at 44, though he didn't make an appearance. "Population aging is not only increasing the average age of citizens but the average ages of elite sport participants, too," Dr. Rafal Chomik of the UNSW Centre for Population Ageing Research (CEPAR) in Sydney, Australia, told DW. "There are a number of likely explanations, including improvements in sports science, equipment innovation, and training regimes which are sport-specific, but there are also the wider societal trends that combine medical innovations and better health behaviors that shift all of us towards longer, healthier lives, including athletes." CEPAR conducted a study of Olympic athlete ages at the Tokyo Games in 2021.
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