Australian Open 2026: Tennis world saddened after grand slam champ suffers brutal collapse

Tennis fans and commentators are expressing their sadness for Venus Williams after the seven-time grand slam champion blew a 4-0 lead in the third set for what would have been a famous victory at the Australian Open. The 45-year-old became the oldest woman ever to play at the Australian Open as the wildcard took on Olga Danilovic in the first round on Sunday night.

After losing the first set in a tiebreak, Venus surged to take the second set 6-3 and led 4-0 in the decider. The American legend was on the cusp of an extraordinary victory in her first Australian Open since 2021, but lost the next six games on the trot as Danilovic prevailed.

Despite the shattering loss, Venus was upbeat afterwards. "I felt good. Also it's the biggest lead I've had since I've been back," she said with a smile.

"In a lot of ways, I'm having to relearn how to do things again, if that makes any sense. I'm really proud of my effort today because I'm playing better with each match, getting to the places that I want to get to. It's kind of weird, but it's super exciting to have played that well and to get myself in that position and come very close."

Fans and commentators were in awe of how Venus played for the majority of the match, but couldn't help feel downcast that she couldn't finish it off. American tennis journo Ben Rothenberg wrote online: "Heartbreaker for Venus Williams, who played at an unreal level...Heck of a show, but that one will sting for someone as competitive as her. But again, she justified the wild card...and the next ones."

Fellow tennis writer Jose Morgado commented: "What a performance from Venus Williams but this is a very painful loss." While another person wrote: "So sad Venus Williams didn't win that match. I genuinely thought she would! We are so lucky to still see her out there. Keep going legend."

Four seeded players crash out of Australian Open

Big guns Carlos Alcaraz and Aryna Sabalenka started their campaigns with fairly comfortable wins, beating Australia's Adam Walton and French wildcard Tiantsoa Rakotomanga Rajaonah respectively. But the tournament lost four seeded players in Flavio Cobolli, Ekaterina Alexandrova, Marta Kostyuk and Dayana Yastremska.

For the Australians, 21-year-old wildcard Talia Gibson scored a stunning win over Russian player Anna Blinkova. But Walton, Tristian Schoolkate and Jason Kubler all lost.

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