NEW YORK—The welcome and support for Venus Williams in Arthur Ashe Stadium on Tuesday afternoon were not the same as they were for her sister, Serena, a night earlier. Nor was the result.
Venus, who turned 42 in June, has not made any pronouncements about her future in tennis, unlike her younger sibling, and while she has been successful and influential, too—a seven-time Grand Slam champion; a Black woman in a predominantly white sport—the fanfare and attention are not the same.