Venus Williams doesn't completely rule out 2020 Olympics
RIO DE JANEIRO — Venus Williams on Sunday became the most decorated player since the return of tennis to the Olympics, winning the silver with Rajeev Ram in mixed doubles for her fifth total medal.
And though she hinted that this is likely her last Olympics, she didn’t completely rule out coming back in 2020 — at age 40 — to chase No. 6.
“God willing, if I really wanted to be there I probably could,” Williams said. “It’s about whether I want to be there and want to continue putting in the work to be there. It’s hard. We’ll see.”
Williams, whose previous four medals were gold including the singles title in 2000, said silver wasn’t a disappointment after losing to another American team in Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Jack Sock. After splitting the first two sets, the match was decided by a super-tiebreaker where Mattek-Sands and Sock reeled off six consecutive points to take control.
“We tried hard, we fought hard,” Williams said. “I feel excited we played well the whole tournament. It’s been an amazing experience; five Olympics for me, and it’s surreal to think about coming out with any hardware at all because it’s so highly contested.”
Williams danced around a question about where she would rank her career in the Olympics with her other accomplishments, including seven Grand Slam singles titles and 14 in doubles other than to say how happy she was to bring something home after spending two weeks in Rio.
“The Olympics has been so good for tennis,” she said. “All I can say is it’s been beyond my dreams. There’s so much pressure, and when you can cross that (medal) line in any way, it feels so great.”
Only one other player has five Olympic medals in tennis, Kathleen McKane of Britain, who claimed a gold, two silvers and two bronzes in the 1920 and '24 Games.
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