NATIONAL BANK OPEN

August 1, 2026

Venus Williams

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: We'll get started. Venus, welcome back to Toronto, a place with so many great memories for you. Can we get some thoughts on you being back here.

VENUS WILLIAMS: Yes, exciting to be back. It's been awhile. Fans have already welcomed me, and I look forward to playing.

THE MODERATOR: First question, please.

Q. Wondering if you can talk about, at this stage of your career, what's your relationship with tennis like, in terms of the enjoyment that you still get out of competing, and also the challenges that it presents to you as well?

VENUS WILLIAMS: Yeah, I think I come at it the same way, the same amount of work, same focus, same drive. I'm still learning lessons throughout my career, and now too. So, yeah, it's about finding joy in the process.

Q. You played with Alex Eala at the Bad Homburg tournament in doubles about a month ago. Curious, what were your impressions of her as a player and a person?

VENUS WILLIAMS: Yeah, we had a great start. We played really well. Hoping to get a chance to play with her again. I think as a team, like, if we had a chance to play often, then I think we could play really well.

Q. This is a tournament, Canadian Open, where you've had a lot of success over your career. Curious, when you look back at playing here in Canada what this tournament has meant to you and what it's meant to just the WTA tour as a whole.

VENUS WILLIAMS: Yeah, I remember playing here the first time when I was like 15 or 16. I was such a young person. I played the night match and I didn't know what was going on (laughing). I remember playing in this huge stadium and being a little bit overwhelmed. But I learned a lot since that time. Folks in Canada are so nice, and the best part is that the tournament is in the summer and not in the winter.

Q. Wondering if we'll see you team up again at some point with Canadian Leylah Fernandez in doubles. You two had a pretty fun and successful partnership since you joined forces last year at times. She's just hooked up with your former coach Eric Hechtman to help her out, how do you think he can help her game at this stage of her career as well?

VENUS WILLIAMS: Yeah, she's already been a Grand Slam finalist, so she knows what she's doing. We had a quarterfinal too, so a Grand Slam quarterfinalist too. I think there's only upside in her career. Any coach that helps her is going to enjoy the process because she works so hard, she's such a fighter. Yeah, I hope we get to play again. I played with some really fun partners this year and last year.

Q. Diana said after DC she was quite surprised at your sense of humor on the court. Is that a part of you, are you surprised to hear that, or do you always feel like you bring that sort of energy to the court?

VENUS WILLIAMS: Oh, that's interesting. Hopefully, I was like a good motivator and team leader. That's what I want to hear. You got to keep it fun. I'm very intense, but especially in doubles you have to feel free to be able to be yourself on the court and I try to help my partners feel that way.

Q. I wonder about your experience, in your experience as a pro athlete, what is it like as a pro athlete to be on social media, and how has it maybe become a bigger part of life throughout your career as an athlete?

VENUS WILLIAMS: Yeah, I think for me social media is a job, maybe for another generation it might not be. So I don't think about social media (laughing), it's like not a real place for me.

Q. You took part in the mixed doubles event at the US Open last year, what was your experience with that and what can be improved?

VENUS WILLIAMS: Yeah, I played with one of my best friends, and he played amazing. I feel like I was still a little raw at the time and I was hitting rockets and not all of them went in. I wish I could have a second chance to play with him so I could play a little bit more controlled. But I think experimentation's always good, and hopefully it will, I don't know, I wanted to play the mixed doubles and I wanted to win the event, so that's why I played, but everybody's got their own reasons.