Venus Williams was handed a tough opening round draw against the vastly-improving Belinda Bencic at the Australian Open but few would’ve betted against her making it through to the next stage.
Although the Swiss opponent has been in great form, putting together an imperious run of 28 victories from a possible 31 tour matches, the far more experienced Williams was expected to deal with her threat.
A big reason why a lot touted Williams as the favourite for this contest was her phenomenal resurgence in 2017, starting with a second-place finish at this particular Grand Slam.
Although she might not be as quick and agile compared with say 10 years ago the 37-year-old has compensated with her phenomenal mental toughness and often immaculate shot selection. For example at Wimbledon last year she looked to conserve energy by keeping points short, coming to the net 145 times and being successful 68% of the time.
Despite making smart adjustments it is clear that Williams’ age still has the potential to ruin her chances of securing a first major title in nearly a decade.
All that wisdom and knowledge is great but against opponents like Bencic and Garbine Murguruza last year at Wimbledon it will only help to a certain extent.
20-year-old Bencic showed great mobility around the court, returning a high number of shots, which ultimately heaped more pressure on Williams, who made 26 unforced errors during the match.
Youth also turned out to prevail during the Wimbledon final last year, Murguruza possessing the greater stamina to edge a tight first set and then storm to victory, eventually winning 7-5 6-0.
These two matches are great examples of why elder players like Williams will come out second best more times than not.
Another a reason why Williams is likely to be frustrated by rising talents like Jelena Ostapenko and Elina Svitolina is their fearlessness to play an attacking brand of tennis.
Svitolina’s 6-2 6-1 annihilation of Williams during last year’s Rogers Cup was as much about self-belief as being able to stretch her opponent physically – The Ukrainian made just 10 unforced errors, going after Williams straight away and subsequently opening up a 5-0 lead in the opening set.
As well as lacking that burst of speed which she possessed in abundance earlier on during her career, the fifth-ranked player in the world also has to deal with the limiting impact of Sjogren’s syndrome.
One of the primary symptoms of the autoimmune condition, which has affected Williams for the past seven years, is prolonged fatigue.
Although adopting a vegan diet helped in fighting back against the illness last season, it is a problem that will always be there and as a result, will often put Williams at an immediate disadvantage.
Just under 12 months ago it seemed extraordinary how a 36-year-old woman would be battling it out for one of the sport’s biggest prizes.
At the start of a new campaign, Williams’ early exit from the first major event offers a clear indication as to why 2017 might’ve been just a wondrous anomaly rather than a sign of things to come.
