By Ava Wallace

Welcome to The Sports Moment, your guide to the buzziest stories in sports. This week, a tennis legend returns to the court.

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Venus Williams won her first singles match in 16 months this week, becoming the second-oldest woman to ever win a tour-level match at 45. (Photo by Tom Brenner For The Washington Post)

The first question that entered my mind when I heard this month that 45-year-old Venus Williams was planning a return to professional tennis: Why? Her legacy is airtight, her trophy cabinet full. Yet she ended a 16-month hiatus this week and on Tuesday at the D.C. Open became the second-oldest woman to win a tour-level singles match, after Martina Navratilova’s victory at 47 in 2004. Next up, she’ll play a second-round match in Washington on Thursday night. Looking ahead, she’s received a wild card invitation to play at a tournament in Cincinnati that sits one level below a Grand Slam.

No one in women’s tennis is statelier than Williams, a seven-time Grand Slam singles champion who helped secure equal prize money for women at the majors. She has always been private, with a warm yet impenetrable air, and, among reporters, she’s become well-known in recent years for giving laughably short answers to questions. Who could blame a woman who stepped into the public eye as a teenager for that?  

“She’s, like, the queen,” Naomi Osaka, who’s also playing in D.C. this week, said Tuesday. “There’s a royal air around her.”

But this week, the thing I’ve noticed most about Williams — other than the fact that she can still hit a 113 mph serve — is how free she seems. Her disposition is helping me understand why she would pose a comeback. For a woman with 49 WTA titles, she positively beamed as she did her customary wave and twirl after her first-round win Tuesday, where she dispatched world No. 35 Peyton Stearns, who is 23. Her skin glowed with sweat, her natural curls hung loose. Her fiancée, an Italian actor, and her older sister Isha watched from the stands as she joked about needing to win enough matches to be put back on the WTA’s insurance plan.

With us reporters, she’s been chatty. Her 16-month layoff from the sport included surgery for painful uterine fibroids and an uneven training schedule where she’d practice for two months, then take two months off. Still, her desire to pick up a racket persisted.

“It was all about making space for tennis, because there are so many other things I can do and so many other things I’m interested in,” Williams said.

Fans have flocked to watch Williams in both her singles and doubles matches this week in Washington. (Photo by Maxine Wallace/The Washington Post)

Twenty-five years after winning her first Grand Slam title at Wimbledon, she is still “obsessed” with the process of problem-solving on court. She went to Wimbledon for a day this year, reflected on the five singles titles she won there, and missed the pure fun of playing the game.

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There is also the fact that Williams enjoys seeing up close the fruits of her legacy. She won a doubles match this week with D.C. native Hailey Baptiste, a 23-year-old Black woman in the midst of a career year who counts the Williams sisters as inspirations (as do Osaka and Frances Tiafoe).

All of it made me think how satisfying it must feel as a professional athlete to do the thing you’re best at in the world without pressure or anything to prove, but with an extra couple decades of perspective. Williams said there is one thing she hopes people watching her matches this week take away: “There are no limits for excellence.”

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With an October deadline looming for a new collective bargaining agreement, WNBA players used the most anticipated All-Star Game to date Saturday to highlight their fight for increased salaries and a bigger share of the league’s (newly supercharged) revenue. My colleague Candace Buckner wrote from Indianapolis on the battle — both in terms of wages and PR — that lies ahead.

All-star team captain Napheesa Collier in one of the specially designed shirts. (Trevor Ruszkowski-Imagn Images)

45.

Venus Williams wasn’t the only 45-year-old veteran who made a comeback this week. Kansas City Royals pitcher Rich Hill — on his 14th team — returned to MLB as the oldest player in the majors Tuesday.

Let’s round down and loop in Manny Pacquiao with the 45ers, why not! The boxer fell just short of his bid to become a world champion at 46 against WBC welterweight titleholder Mario Barrios on Saturday, in what was Pacquiao’s first fight in almost four years.

⚾️ MLB: There are a couple of tasty options on deck featuring competitive teams this weekend. Either check out the Dodgers at the Red Sox (Saturday, 7:15 p.m., Fox) or the Mets at the Giants (Sunday, 7:10 p.m., ESPN).

⚽️ Women’s European Championships: A late goal from two-time Ballon d’Or winner Aitana Bonmati against Germany on Wednesday sent Spain to its first appearance in a Euros final and set up a rematch of the 2023 World Cup final with England. The Lionesses are hoping things go differently this time (Sunday, noon, Fox).