Venus Williams said she was taking it "one week at a time" after suffering her 17th loss in a row in singles tennis with a straight-sets defeat to a player half her age at the Hong Kong Open on Monday.
The 46-year-old former world number one went down 6-2, 6-3 to fellow American Mary Stoiana in the opening round. Williams, now ranked 597, let out a yell and stumbled when chasing a return in the first set, just about managing to stay on her feet but going down 5-2.
Stoiana, who is ranked 113, faced a crowd heavily in her opponent's favour but refused to relent in the second set to condemn Williams to another early exit. Williams, a seven-time Grand Slam singles champion, last won a singles match on the WTA Tour in July 2025.
"I haven't made any plans for next year, also this year I didn't make plans, just took it one step at a time," said the veteran, asked if she would be back for singles tennis in 2027. "We'll see."
"I'm going to ask what Serena's doing, probably copy her," she added, appearing to make light of questions about her future.
Asked by AFP about the reference to her sister, a 23-time major singles winner who made a shock return to tennis this year, she said: "We've always motivated each other.
"I'm really fully focused on every one week at a time, and whatever happens will happen, and I don't have pressure to decide or anything."
Williams lost in straight sets at the Guangzhou Open to Austrian teenager Lilli Tagger last week. Before that, Williams last played at the US Open in August-September, when she lost in the first round to Sofia Kenin, again without winning a set.
Williams reached the semi-finals of the Guangzhou doubles with Indonesia's Janice Tjen. She is also in doubles action in Hong Kong. The 23-year-old Stoiana faces top seed Sorana Cirstea of Romania or Russian-born Uzbek Maria Timofeeva in the last 16.
