Venus Williams falls to Parry, but the appreciation endures at Indian Wells

INDIAN WELLS -- As she sauntered, positively regal, onto the vast Stadium 1 court, Venus Williams smiled as the applause swelled around her.

At the age of 45 -- she turns 46 in June -- naturally, Williams isn’t the tennis player she once was, but that hardly matters. Neither did Thursday’s 6-3, 6-7 (4), 6-1 first-round loss to qualifier Diane Parry.

Venus, sporting a stylish Lacoste white sleeveless top and shorts, gave her a good go, staging numerous in-game comebacks and acquitting herself quite well against the No. 111-ranked player on the WTA Tour Driven by Mercedes-Benz. Parry, incidentally, advanced to last year’s third round at both Wimbledon and the US Open.

This was Williams' 110th main-draw appearance at a Tier 1/WTA 1000 event, equaling Francesca Schiavone for the sixth most of any player since the tier format’s introduction in 1990. She’s the second-oldest player to play a Tier 1/1000 event, after 47-year-old Martina Navratilova (Charleston, 2004).

Going back to her first appearance at Indian Wells in 1996, Venus’ run here spans a full three decades. The seven-time Grand Slam champion remains a one-name icon, an ambassador to the sport with a long record of social conscience.

Older fans will remember the glittering triumphs, particularly at Wimbledon and the US Open. The younger ones in attendance might not appreciate the spark of popularity Venus and younger sister Serena brought to women’s tennis at the turn of the century.

Her greatest legacy -- and Venus confirms this -- was her instrumental role in convincing the All England Club to offer equal prize money to men and women in 2007. She lobbied behind the scenes and, memorably, in an essay in The Times of London, asking poignantly, “How can it be that Wimbledon finds itself on the wrong side of history?”

It was wonderfully appropriate when, after winning in 2007 (her fourth of five titles there), she received that first equal paycheck.

Williams has a lot going on in her life. She married Andrea Preti in 2025 and oversees thriving businesses in interior design and fashion. She also happens to love tennis, which is why she’s still out there, playing a light schedule since her last full-time season in 2019.

Some might wonder why? It just might be the jolt of adrenaline that surges through her when she hits a winner, or the crowd murmur that builds into roars when she’s taking control of a point. To see her patting her thigh with intensity and swaying slightly from side to side as she contemplates a break point return is to understand that it still means something.

She’s 0-5 for the year after this 2-hour and 21-minute match but, again, that’s not the point.

In his cherished song “Glory Days,” Bruce Springsteen laments in the chorus “Glory days … They’ll pass you by, glory days … In the wink of a young girl’s eye.”

Credit to Venus for finding a way to relive and recapture some of those golden moments -- and sharing them with her tribute-paying forever fans. At one point, after another one of her thunderous forehands -- a winner into the open court -- Venus turned to the crowd and raised a fist.

She was smiling -- and so was everyone in the stadium.

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