NEW YORK (AP) — Venus Williams has started her first Grand Slam match in two years on Monday night at the U.S. Open , facing 2023 French Open runner-up Karolina Muchova in Arthur Ashe Stadium.

At age 45, Williams is the oldest singles player at the hard-court tournament since Renee Richards was 47 in 1981. She wasn't exactly easing into things Monday: Muchova, a 29-year-old from the Czech Republic, was seeded 11th in New York and made it to the semifinals there in both 2023 — when she lost to eventual champion Coco Gauff in a match interrupted by a climate protest — and 2024.

Williams won two of her seven major singles championships at Flushing Meadows in 2000 and 2001. The other five came at Wimbledon.

Since making her professional debut in 1994 , she's also collected 14 G

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