Kevin Durant Supports Venus Williams and Hailey Baptiste at DC Open

Originally posted on Serve on SI | By Pat Benson | Last updated Jul 22, 2025 9:01 AM ET

On Monday afternoon, Venus Williams played her first professional tennis match in over a year. Williams teamed up with Hailey Baptiste in doubles at the 2025 Mubadala Citi DC Open.

Williams is a tennis trailblazer who also won eight singles and 14 doubles Grand Slam titles during her legendary career. The 45-year-old teamed up with Baptiste, a DC-native, who brought out even more local fans.

Williams and Baptiste defeated Eugenie Bouchard and Clervie Ngounoue in straight sets: 6-3, 6-1. The sell-out crowd at the John A. Harris Grandstand crowd included Houston Rockets forward and DMV native Kevin Durant.

Kevin Durant watching Venus Williams in Washington.

Legends supporting legends.

Love this. https://t.co/4JoNwObvfs
— The Tennis Letter (@TheTennisLetter) July 21, 2025

Williams and Baptiste were asked about Durant during their post-match press conference. Baptiste said, "I heard the crowd started screaming, KD, KD. I was, like, I'm not even going to look over right now. Let me just focus on this next return."

Williams joked with her teammate, "That's actually, I think, when you started playing better." She added, "I was, like, I want to show KD what I can do. Hit the ball to me."

Special guest today in Washington D.C at the Mubadala Citi DC Open.

Kevin Durant started out watching Nick Kyrgios and Gael Monfils play doubles and migrated over to watch Venus Williams and Hailey Baptiste in their doubles match. pic.twitter.com/XrPuzmdjGQ
— Jacob Steinberg (@jacobstein23) July 21, 2025