How inspiring are the Williams sisters?! Now I know adding my voice to the praise for Venus and Serena is self indulgent on my part given the level of their usual commentators but as an amateur player watching that picked up the sport after the age of 40 you can't help but feel inspired watching them play.

Just think how many people they have had the same effect on over the course of their career. I dare say much of the current top 100 players in the ATP and WTA are an outcome of watching Venus and Serena.

Midnight Magic in Flushing Meadows

To understand the sheer magnitude of what took place at the 2026 US Open, one only has to look at the numbers. Venus is forty-six years old. Serena is forty-four. Between them, they have amassed thirty Grand Slam singles titles, four Olympic gold medals each, and an astonishing fourteen major doubles crowns without ever losing a Grand Slam doubles final. They have rewritten sporting history, shattered cultural glass ceilings, and earned every imaginable accolade the world could offer. They have absolutely nothing left to prove to anyone.

Yet there they were, stepping onto the grandest stage in tennis for their first Grand Slam doubles tournament together since 2022, facing the 14th-seeded pairing of 20-year-old Australian sensation Maya Joint and Chinese Taipei's doubles stalwart Hao-Ching Chan.

What unfolded across three hours and three minutes of spine-tingling drama was nothing short of electrifying. As recounted by BBC Sport, the veteran sisters proved beyond question that their competitive flame burns as brightly as ever. After dropping the opening set 6-3, they fought tooth and nail, saving crucial points to snatch the second set in a breathless 7-6 tie-break.

The deciding ten-point match tie-break had twenty-four thousand spectators on their feet. When Venus and Serena surged to a 5-0 lead, Arthur Ashe shook with the kind of roar usually reserved for championship Sunday. Although Joint and Chan mounted an extraordinary comeback to take the tie-break 10-7—as detailed in the official US Open match report—the scoreline was almost secondary.

Watching two of the greatest ever players sprinting corner to corner, chest-bumping at the net, and trading 115mph thunderbolts with opponents half their age was a heart-swelling reminder of the human spirit.

From Compton's Cracked Courts to World Dominance

For those who have followed the Williams sisters since childhood, their longevity is merely the latest chapter in one of the most audacious stories in modern athletic history.

Long before they were global icons, they were two girls with beaded braids, hitting second-hand tennis balls out of shopping trolleys on the potholed municipal courts of East Compton Park in California. Their parents, Richard Williams and Oracene Price, coached them amidst peeling paint, broken glass, and the scepticism of an elitist establishment that had never seen anyone like them.

Side note: Andy Roddick's Served Podcast has a great episode that shares just how well they are thought of. Its great to hear how Roddick speaks of Venus and Serena in the early days.

Richard famously prophesied that his daughters would become the top two players in the world when they had barely played a junior tournament. The tennis world laughed; the Williams family went to work.

When Venus turned professional in 1994, followed by Serena in 1995, they brought something revolutionary to the court: raw, uninhibited power paired with graceful athletic agility and an unapologetic sense of identity. They endured systemic prejudice, patronising commentary, and relentless scrutiny, yet they answered every detractor with unmatched excellence.

What Every Amateur Player Can Learn

Sitting in my living room late into the night, quietly celebrating so not to wake people up, I found myself deeply moved.

At forty-two, it is so easy to allow self-imposed limitations to creep in. We tell ourselves that our best tennis is behind us, that the younger club members have too much pace, or that our reactions are too slow to anticipate a dipping volley. We invent excuses to protect our pride.

Venus and Serena dismantle that cynicism completely. Watching them play in 2026 offers every amateur player three profound lessons:

1. Compete for the Love of the Struggle: When you have already reached the summit of Olympus, returning to the court in your mid-forties cannot be about prize money or status. It is about the pure, unfiltered joy of the contest. They play because they love the tactile thump of the ball on strings and the tactical puzzle of every point.
2. Age is a Number, Passion is a Choice: While physical recovery may take longer, passion, court intelligence, and courage do not have an expiry date. Watching Venus anticipate at the net and Serena unleash that iconic service motion proves that technique and desire transcend the calendar.
3. Grace in Victory and Defeat: Even in the heartbreak of relinquishing a 5-0 super tie-break lead, both sisters embraced their opponents with genuine warmth and waved to the roaring crowd with radiant smiles. They remind us that true champions honour the game by giving everything they have, regardless of the final outcome.

If Venus and Serena can lay their hearts on the line before twenty-four thousand people at forty-six and forty-four, the least I can do at forty-two is chase down that extra ball, smile through the missed volleys, and celebrate the sheer privilege of being on the court.