Venus Williams shares Hobart International training advice that her rivals should listen to
Venus Williams continued her frustrating start to the season with an early exit at the Hobart International.
Williams lost her opening match in Hobart, with the WTA legend suffering a 6-4, 6-3 defeat to sixth seed Tatjana Maria.
It follows her early exits in singles and doubles at the ASB Classic in Auckland, her first tournament of the 2026 WTA Tour season.
Williams lost her singles opener to Magda Linette, and fell in doubles to Alexandra Eala and Iva Jovic while playing alongside Elina Svitolina, who went on to lift the singles trophy.
Venus Williams shares advice on Hobart International windShe will now turn her focus to the Australian Open, but has first issued advice to her WTA rivals playing in Hobart.
Williams said in a video on her Instagram story: “The wind does blow in Hobart, which is one of the things that you’re going to have to deal with if playing here.
“I always hit in the morning exclusively. Usually I’m here before they even open the gates. So usually I’m hitting like from 8am.
“But today I tried something different, because usually in the morning it’s not so windy, so the wind usually picks up in the afternoon. I really wanted to kind of play in this kind of famous wind that all the players talk about.
“Especially there’s a mental strain that goes down when that wind is blowing and the ball’s moving out of where you think it’s going to be. I got prepared for that.
“I don’t care if it feels right, I’m going to go out there and get what I need to get done no matter how it feels, and that felt great, that felt like I was in the right mindset.”
Venus Williams remains a fan favorite despite tricky start to 2026Williams has it all to do at the Australian Open, with the seven-time Grand Slam champion having received a wildcard for the tournament.
She will be desperate to enjoy a lengthy run at the event, but 2026 certainly hasn’t been going her way so far.
Whether or not she can recover and achieve success at the Australian Open remains to be seen, but a long stay doesn’t look likely at this moment in time.
Coming back from a 16-month break last season, the 45-year-old was always going to find it tricky against the current WTA players.
But it’s clear that she is still a fan favorite, as well as a WTA favorite given her wildcards for Auckland, Hobart and Melbourne.
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