Venus answers questions about tour return

Tennis fans aren't the only ones itching for the WTA tour to resume, as Venus Williams is also counting down the days until the action resumes.  In anticipation of the tour resuming, Venus posted a "Return to Play" video where she answered questions from fans.

Here are a few of her responses.

1

Would you play live televised matches without a crowd?

"So right now, a crowd would be dangerous," Venus said. "I really want to play tennis. Is that a bad? Should I feel guilty about that? I want to go back to work just like most people, I want to do what I do well. I don't want to sit at home and not have that goal or that challenge and that part is missing in my life."

2

Will we see you in New York?

"God willing, you will see me in New York. If it is safe to play, I really want to play at the US Open."

Not all the fans got the memo about the questions needing to be based around the return of play and COVID-19.

3

What is your favorite color?

"OK, so is that a question about COVID and the return to play? I'm not sure."

Venus then proceeded to say that the shirt she was wearing was her favorite color. However, the long sleeve was multicolored from her newest Eleven collection.

"These are all my favorite colors at the moment," Venus said with a smile.

Why choose just one color, right?

4

What is your biggest fear in returning?

"My biggest fear in returning is maybe that the whole tournament will be cancelled," Venus said. "I wake up the next day and they'll be like, your final match is cancelled. You've reached the finals of the US Open and you can't play it. It's a tie! There's no tie! There's only one winner here! The winner must be me!"

5

How do you feel about that swab going up your nose?

"Honestly, I'm frightened. As of yet, I have not gotten the swab test yet, I'm getting it tomorrow, so I'll let you guys know how that goes. Fingers crossed that it will all go OK. I'm frightened because I don't do well with all that stuff. I just have a lot of anxiety about it, I think a lot of people do and it's like why would I want a swab up here?" Venus said as she pointed to her forehead.

The seven-time Grand Slam winner is back on the court for the World Team Tennis season in West Virginia. Although, a little rusty. She's 0-2 in singles with losses to Sofia Kenin and Kristie Ahn, and 2-1 in doubles, She'll be using the team competition to prepare for the upcoming US Open.

"Yesterday I played two matches and everything went so fast.," Venus said in an off-court interview after her first match on Friday. "My mind was going at a pace that I wasn't used to. So I'm hoping that today later on I'll be able to slow down and just soak it all in and play some good tennis."

The WTA plans to resume on August 3 at the Palermo Ladies Open, followed by Prague on August 1o.