WIMBLEDON, England — If you hunt for symbolism, as so many of us sportswriters do, it was there in abundance over the last few days at Wimbledon as Venus Williams faced down the generation gap.
Naomi Osaka, 19, in the third round. Ana Konjuh, 19, in the fourth round. Jelena Ostapenko, 20, in the quarterfinals under a closed Centre Court roof on a rainy Tuesday.
All three of Williams’s most recent opponents were born in 1997, the year she made her Wimbledon debut.
Twenty years later, Williams is part of the landscape and lore at the All England Club, and while many of those who have watched her from the start are feeling nostalgic, Williams — even at age 37 — is much more concerned with her tennis future.