Who would have guessed that when Venus Williams was given a wild card at this year’s US Open, she would reach a Grand Slam Quarterfinal for the first time since 2017, this time teaming up with Canada’s Leylah Fernandez in doubles? Most of all in a tournament full of controversy, it was joyful to see the love for the game displayed by Venus Williams after all these years.

Welcome to the Williams show

Nothing in sports history quite compares to the way Venus Ebony Starr Williams took tennis by storm when she turned professional on October 31, 1994. In 1997 she would play here in Toronto at the Canadian Open then shortly after she would reach the US Open Finals a month later. I still have memories of those early days watching a young Venus Williams play other power hitters, such as the great Monica Seles, trading groundstrokes at a speed no one had ever seen before. What I remember most is the joy Venus Williams brought to the game. It is hard to remember now, yet tennis was very different back in those days. It still had that country club exclusive atmosphere which made several players feel unwelcome. You could say that the legendary Althea Gibson and Arthur Ashe opened doors, while Venus Williams and her sister Serena Williams would go on to smash that glass ceiling for other players that did not fit the traditional mold. One memory stands out: I remember watching a Wimbledon game with our mother on TV and seeing Venus Williams’s father the innovative Richard Williams in the stands carrying a sign with the words, “Welcome to the Williams show”. And what a show it was. Together Venus and Serena Williams would win a total of 30 singles Grand Slams, and 14 doubles Grand Slams as a team. The sisters would face each other in 9 Grand Slam finals. Venus Williams won the Wimbledon singles crown 5 times and has 4 Olympic Gold medals.

The Comeback

In 2011 Venus Williams was diagnosed with Sjögren’s syndrome an autoimmune disease that causes fatigue and joint pain. It is incredible to even think that despite this condition Venus Williams was still reaching Grand Slam finals in 2017. And in 2018 Venus Williams was still seeded in Grand Slams and winning matches against top 10 players. Later years have not been as successful for her and it is clear that Sjögren’s and injuries were a major factor.

At the start of the US Open this year the odds for success were stacked against Venus Williams. She had not played in 18 months. Yet after receiving a wild card in singles she would lose a hard fought 3-set match to tournament favourite Karolína Muchová. In that match Venus Williams was still hitting aces and her forehand was as powerful as ever. Her US Open run could have stopped there, yet there was to be a happy ending.

Her Legacy

Leylah Annie Fernandez hails from Laval. To support her budding tennis career her mother worked away from home in California, a noteworthy personal sacrifice. At the age of 7 Tennis Quebec dropped her from their youth development program. Despite a rejection that would have stopped anyone else, Leylah Fernandez would go on to become a professional tennis player in 2019. Among her accomplishments are reaching the US Open Finals, the French Open Quarterfinals, 2 Monterrey Open wins, winning the Hong Kong Open, and recently she won her first 500 WTA event the DC Open this year.

Leylah Fernandez does not get enough credit for another incredible triumph: leading Canada to its 2023 win of the Billie Jean King (BJK) Cup. In the BJK Cup Leylah Fernandez would win against top players such as Wimbledon champion Markéta Vondroušová and Italy’s Jasmine Paolini. Canada had never won the BJK Cup before and its best showing was the Semifinals back in 1988.

In several interviews, Leylah Fernandez has named Venus and Serena Williams as an inspiration to her. And it was Leylah Fernandez who reached out to Venus Williams to team up in doubles at the 2025 US Open. They would go on to win three matches in straight sets before ending their magnificent run in the Quarterfinals to the top seeded team.

There are many memorable US Open runs by players past their prime years. I can think of Jimmy Connors reaching the Semifinals in 1991 despite being 39 years old. Or Andre Agassi reaching the finals in 2005 at 35 years of age. Incredibly Venus Williams is 45 years old today and her doubles run with Leylah Fernandez will be remembered for years to come.

The humbleness of Venus Williams was apparent when recently she said that she did not consider herself to be a good doubles player, despite having won 14 Grand Slams and 3 Olympic Gold medals in doubles. A few days ago Venus Williams announced that her tennis career is not over yet. And I certainly hope to see her play doubles with Leylah Fernandez again.

Leylah Fernandez’s mother has Filipino roots while her father is Ecuadorian. A woman of colour with a fighting spirit, Leylah Fernandez is part of the legacy of Venus Williams. So are Coco Gauff, Naomi Osaka, Taylor Townsend and Canada’s Victoria Mboko. They are all fighters with attitude, that’s exactly what we love about them. Leylah Fernandez’s birthday is coming up on September 6. That is the same day our mother was born, who was also a woman of colour and came from working-class Barrios Altos in Lima. And she was a person with that same fighting spirit and courage who became the first member of our family to graduate from university and then went on to become a successful lawyer. And just like Venus Williams our mother loved tennis. Women of colour must have attitude and courage to leave tough neighbourhoods like Barrios Altos or to leave Compton and move onwards and upwards in their lives.

“Some people say I have attitude–maybe I do…But I think you have to. You have to believe in yourself when no one else does–that makes you a winner right there.”

“As far as everyone else’s opinions, I mean, if I would have thought that everyone was right, I probably wouldn’t have left Compton, so I don’t get too caught up on what the next person thinks.”

Venus Williams