Venus Williams, 45, hadn’t performed skilled tennis in a yr and a half. However she performed within the Mubadala Citi DC Open in Washington, D.C. this week, and for a shocking motive.
“I needed to come again for the insurance coverage,” Williams stated after successful the primary spherical. (She misplaced within the second spherical on Thursday.)
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“They knowledgeable me this yr that I am on COBRA, so it is like, I received to get my advantages on,” Williams added.
The group laughed, however Williams seemed to be severe.
Venus Williams after changing into the oldest WTA match winner since 2004:
“I needed to come again for the insurance coverage, as a result of they knowledgeable me this yr that I am on cobra. So it is like, I received to get my advantages on” ????
— The Tennis Letter (@TheTennisLetter) July 23, 2025
“I am all the time on the physician, so I would like this insurance coverage,” she stated.
Williams has been open about her wrestle with uterine fibroids, telling NBC News Now earlier this month that the situation has affected her for 30 years.
MarketWatch reports that Girls’s Tennis Affiliation (WTA) gamers are supplied insurance policy that present world protection for the tour’s intensive journey necessities, however athletes want to satisfy sure necessities to qualify.
“Participant members which might be eligible for such entry to medical health insurance have to be contained in the rankings of 500 in singles or 175 in doubles and have performed a minimal of three WTA 250-level and above occasions, together with Grand Slams, within the final yr,” a WTA spokesperson advised MarketWatch.
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This implies we might see Williams on the skilled courtroom once more quickly. It is also raised many questions and feedback, particularly on Reddit, which was co-founded by Venus’s brother-in-law, Alexis Ohanian, concerning the value of well being care within the U.S.
In response to ESPN, Williams made greater than $42 million taking part in skilled tennis, throughout which she received 49 singles titles, together with five Wimbledon and two U.S. Open Championships. Williams additionally received 4 Olympic gold medals.
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