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Kevin Durant Supports Venus Williams and Hailey Baptiste at DC Open

Kevin Durant attended Venus Williams and Hailey Baptiste's doubles match at the 2025 Mubadala Citi DC Open.
Pat Benson|
Kevin Durant supported Venus Williams at the 2025 DC Open.
Kevin Durant supported Venus Williams at the 2025 DC Open. | IMAGO / ZUMA Press Wire

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.

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."

Williams and Baptiste will play the winners of Bucsa/Melichar-Martinez and the second-seeded Townsend/Zhang in the quarterfinals tomorrow.

The DC Open runs from July 21 to July 27, 2025. Stay locked into Sports Illustrated's Serve On SI for all your tennis news from the tennis court and beyond.

More Tennis News

Holger Rune discussed his coaching partnership with Andre Agassi ahead of the DC Open.

Four of the sport's biggest starts dropped out of the ATP Toronto Masters.

Qinwen Zheng announces she underwent elbow surgery.

Naomi Osaka unveiled her Nike tennis shoes for hard court season.

Naomi Osaka and Venus Williams enter the DC Open as wildcards.

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Pat Benson
PAT BENSON

Pat Benson covers professional tennis for Serve on Sports Illustrated, reporting on ATP and WTA events worldwide. From Challenger tournaments to Grand Slams, he brings readers in-depth coverage, daily recaps, and exclusive interviews with some of the biggest names in the sport. With a decade of experience in sports journalism, Pat is recognized as a trusted voice in tennis media. You can contact him at 1989patbenson@gmail.com.

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