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cathal kelly

It has become difficult to put into context how unlikely it is that at 37, Venus Williams is having (another) resurgence. It's that freakish.

But here's one way.

The first big moment in Williams's career came at the 1997 U.S. Open. She was 17 years old and had begun that season as an amateur. Flushing Meadows – only the 19th tournament she'd ever played – was her breakout event. She made the final, where Martina Hingis wiped her out.

After winning, Hingis was embarrassed when she tried to vault a wall to hug her mother – something she'd seen Williams do earlier in the event – and didn't quite make it. She took it out on Williams in the postmatch press conference.

"Making a first-time performance at the U.S. Open, and reaching the finals, is not a bad effort after all," Hingis sniffed. "It's pretty good."

Hingis was 16 years old at the time, and proving that "precocious" is a very short distance from "unbearable."

(This feud would eventually escalate into the greatest low-key burn in tennis history. After Hingis described the Williams's sisters as having "a big mouth," Serena Williams sighed, "She's always been the type of person who just speaks her mind. I guess that has a little bit to do with not having a formal education.")

In that moment twenty years ago, Hingis was the younger, far superior player.

She'd go on to win five majors.

She was first sidelined with serious injury in 2003. She came back four years later and played a while longer. She abandoned singles play for good in 2008. She's since returned as a very able doubles player.

Hingis has had three distinct tennis careers and taken thirteen years off in the midst of them. Meanwhile, Venus Williams has been playing the whole time. Without making a big deal out of it, she has become tennis's Benjamin Button.

Few of those twenty years at work have been spent at the top. Factors outside her control have mitigated against Williams, most notably her health (she was diagnosed with an autoimmune disorder in 2011).

For years at a time, she's lived on the periphery – good enough to make majors, but not good enough to make an impact on them. During a four year-long stretch (2011-14), she did not pass the fourth round in any slam.

But still, Williams persisted. Currently – with apologies to Roger Federer – she is the rock upon which professional tennis rests. It is hard to imagine that what she's managed in terms of quality and longevity can be matched.

Yet that long period of service tends to be scored against her. Outside the United States, very few paeans are written each year to Williams's impact on the sport, while Federer gets buried beneath them at each stop he makes.

At a guess, that's down to one thing – her sister.

Imagine you are the best at something. Then one day, your little sister shows up. And she's even better. She's also infused with that youngest-sibling spirit – louder, more expressive and more fun. She's very much like you in many ways, but just a little more.

Every head in the room (in this case, every head on the globe) turns toward her. And then back at you with an "Oh, you're still here?" look.

This might work if you could be cast as rivals – and thereby split in the popular consciousness – but it's obvious that you're best friends. So you become the sidekick instead. No matter where you finish, you're No. 2.

Venus Williams had two years – 2000 and 01 – to operate in her own space and dominate. Then Serena took over. For a long while now, the younger Williams sister has been acknowledged as the greatest of all time.

Where would Venus rank in that calculation? Top 10, certainly. If her name were Smith, she'd be as feted as Steffi Graf or Billie Jean King.

But since she is so inextricably linked to the GOAT (greatest of all time), that favour has never fallen on her. Venus Williams is just over there in a corner, being good, but, you know, not that good. Not Serena good.

It's hard to work up a lot of sympathy for someone who's lived their entire adult life like a rock star and has a net worth of $75-million (U.S.), but you can see how this might get you down. You've done all these incredible things, but few will ever mention them without appending a "… and now Serena …" somewhere at the end.

One of the great sports records is that, despite this pressure, the two sisters have run a streak of two decades having never said an unkind word about each other in public. Not one off-hand swipe in the heat of loss or in the midst of a bad run or during a made-up controversy.

If you have a sister/brother, you know how unlikely that is, and you're not even famous. It's an act of sustained goodwill more superhuman than anything they've done on a tennis court.

But it doesn't change the fact that Venus Williams's career is a footnote to her sister's. A long footnote filled with astounding accomplishment, but a footnote nonetheless.

Now, a small window appears.

Your better, little sister has just given birth (once again, and through no fault of her own, upstaging you). You've got your fitness back and rediscovered your form. You've made two grand-slam finals in a season for the first time since your mid-20s.

The draw at the year's last major – one that you won twice, in that short time you had to yourself – has opened up. You're in the quarters, with a clear path toward the championship match.

You don't ever want to say an athlete "deserves" something. They deserve what they get. That's the point of playing.

But if anyone has ever earned themselves a lucky break by showing noble resilience through many years of bad ones, it's Venus Williams in the next four days.

Venus Williams has won a match in Toronto after more than 20 years on the WTA Tour, advancing to the second round of the Rogers Cup with a three-set win over Irina-Camelia Begu Monday. Williams says she still enjoys the city.

The Canadian Press

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