At 32 years of age, Venus Williams seems old partially because she has been playing professionally since 1994, but also because the last two years have been a struggle for her, at least in singles play.

Injury and illness have kept her out of all but one final in the past two season, Luxembourg at the end of October; but her lengthy career still has among the all-time greats in a number of career statistics, and a healthy 2012 could push her even higher into that echelon.
Venus Williams believes she is on track to perform well at this month’s Australian Open after remaining unbeaten in singles at the Hopman Cup.
Williams bowed out of the mixed-teams tournament on a winning note, defeating Spain’s Anabel Medina Garrigues in straight sets on Thursday to complete a clean sweep of her three singles matches.
Williams hit 30 winners to just nine from the Spaniard, and is content to enter the Australian Open without another tournament under her belt.
“That is my usual preparation,” she said.
“I haven’t played before the Australian Open in many, many, many years. I like that preparation, it works for me.”