It's all about video in social media these days. Thus, as teased ahead of mounting her 2019 Wimbledon campaign, Venus Williams has launched (or expertly upgraded) her YouTube channel.
Though she has posted in recent months about Auckland and Australian Open experiences and her EleVen brand's photo shoot, Venus's new focus on video content appears to favor higher-end, owned visuals.
"It will be a destination all things Williams, my family, me, fitness, tennis, wellness, design and more," Venus said in an announcement tweet.
The premier episode of this revitalized YouTube channel bears the title "Wilmington to Wimbledon," and Venus explains it thusly: Her father Richard Williams used to tell her and sister Serena Williams in their formative-year practices, "If you don't move your feet, the only place you're going is to Wilmington, and not Wimbledon."
"I remember my first Wimbledon—and honestly, it was a little bit of a disaster, but, you know, you've got to start somewhere," Venus notes in the clip, which runs just under five minutes overall.
Late in the video, and with a star-is-born allusion, Venus more or less foreshadows her 2019 singles opener against Coco Gauff, in which she was upset. The clip, which published on July 1, the day she played Gauff, includes this: "When you walk out on the court, and you know this person that you're about to play wants with all their heart to win this match, and they've worked just as hard as you have, you're coming out to fight. So when I walk out on the court, it's like you're walking out to a boxing match. I think a lot of times maybe people think that you're like, 'Ah, a star is born.' It's not. It's like, all right, it doesn't matter how many matches I've won, how many Grand Slams I've won, how many majors, how hard I've worked. There's another match today, and none of that counts anymore. The clock has reset, everything has reset, and I have to win this match, earn it, one more time."
Gauff earned it by a 6-4, 6-4 count, but Venus's best quote in the clip arrives at its denouement.
"Sometimes people are like, 'How long will you play,' blah blah blah," she says to her camera in direct-address fashion. "And it's like, guys, you're sitting over there asking the questions, and you've never played professional tennis. Guess what, I earned my way in this draw. It doesn't matter how old you are, from youngest to oldest. If you've earn your way in the draw, guess what, you have the option to play if you so choose." She certainly emphasizes the if therein.
"I have so chosen to play, so I shall choose to play as long as I like. Crazy logic, right?"
Not so much crazy, per se. More so, logic to live by. And with that we learn that Venus, who has been of few words at major-event press conferences this year and last, would prefer to stay loquacious on her own terms. Now on her own channels.
