“I do have commitments, you know, places I said I’d be, people expecting me to be there, like, the next few weeks,” said Williams. “So I have to go and show up. But I’m very serious about my commitments. I would never want to cancel now, so I’ll try to keep those.
“If there is opportunity for me to play, then hopefully I can get back somewhere this year. I just don’t know. I really don’t.”
For all the talk of Williams’ age, the press conference with Fernandez ended with a bit of levity when the former No. 1 was asked about Will Smith, the Academy Award-winning actor who played her father Richard in the eponymous King Richard biopic in 2021.
Q. I can remember you years ago talking about watching DVDs of “The Fresh Prince” to sort of break up the monotony between matches here.
VENUS WILLIAMS: DVD? I don’t know what he’s talking about. He’s older than me (laughter).
Q. I’m wondering, A, do you still watch the show? And, B, does it hit different now that Will’s played your dad?
VENUS WILLIAMS: Oh, my God, right? We were always on the court practicing. My dad only let us watch educational programs growing up, so never really got to see “The Fresh Prince” until I grew up. It was, like, major for me as a 20-year-old to watch that, but it never gets old.
Will Smith is a legend. The fact that he did such an honor to play my dad, and he took it — you can’t understand how seriously he took it. He really put his whole life into it, and he got rewarded for it too. In turn, we all got rewarded for it. I have so much respect for him.
