If you need a Thursday morning pick-me-up, then Venus Williams has you covered.
The 36-year-old tennis player beat fellow American Coco Vandeweghe 7-6 (3), 6-2, 6-3 in Thursday’s Australian Open semifinal, marking the first time she’s reached a women’s singles final in a Grand Slam tournament since 2009. It’s also just the second time Williams has reached the final in Melbourne, Australia, with the first time coming in 2003.
So, as you could imagine, Williams, who’s ranked 17th in the world, was pretty darn excited, and it showed in her post-match celebration.
Even Vandeweghe couldn’t help but smile as Williams skipped over to shake her hand.
Williams also had a tremendously elegant quote about the beauty of sports in her post-match news conference.
Williams has a tall task ahead of her, though, as she’s set to face her sister, world No. 2 Serena Williams, in the final Saturday. The younger Williams has six Australian Open titles to her name — the last one came in 2015 — and 22 Grand Slam titles overall, tied for the most in the Open Era.
