Venus is delighted with the prospect of playing doubles with Serena soon

Tennis legend Venus Williams played her fourth tournament of the year earlier this week, suffering yet another first-round defeat in the singles event.

Arguably, it marked the most frustrating of the lot, having lost to Ajla Tomljanović, a player who has been struggling for form for years now, and who ironically beat Serena Williams in her last-ever professional match.

Venus Williams led in both sets, yet ended up losing both.

Regardless, it is never disappointing to see her playing on the court, no matter the result.

Although she's a legend, her results haven't justified the wildcards that have been given.

Speaking afterwards to reporters, she was never going to leave Austin without answering a question or two about Serena’s potential comeback.

And, in her press conference, one reporter did not mince words when asking about this potential legendary comeback.

He plainly asked whether we could expect to see Venus and Serena play doubles again in the near future, after Serena became officially eligible to compete again after completing her six-month re-entry period in the anti-doping testing pool.

Naturally, the older of the two sisters was coy about spilling any details.

Super excited! But I only want to see her come back on tour if she is in her best physical and mental condition! If that is the case, she can take on anyone and win!!!

She replied, “Oh, man, wouldn’t that be cool? I never see her practising! So, I don’t know where she’s doing it, so.

“I think to come back, you have to get out there, so we’ll see if she can put some work in. I mean, of course, playing for exercise is nice, you know?

“Yeah, there’s a lot of hours that go into it, so we’ll see what happens.”

Whilst she will likely not care about her results of late, Venus is enduring a pretty torrid run of form that has led some to start questioning her inclusion in these events.

As noted earlier, she has lost in the first round of all four tournaments she has played in this season, and suffered the same fate in the three doubles draws she has played too.

At 45 years old, just her presence on the tour is astounding.

However, it’s sad to see Venus struggle to be competitive and actually win matches, especially when she has shown glimpses of being able to challenge on occasion since making her more regular return to tennis.

It will be interesting to see how long the legendary veteran continues to play as often as she currently does if her form does not improve.

Many tennis fans urge tournaments to stop giving Venus Williams wildcards after her latest defeat.