Venus Williams wanted to send a message to herself and to others about coming back from a long layoff, about competing in a sport at age 45, about never giving up.

After Venus Williams’ four-matches-in-four-days return to professional tennis was over, after she was loudly feted by appreciative fans even after a loss in singles, the D.C. Open stadium announcer of...

“Each week that I was training, I was, like, ‘Oh, my God, I don’t know if I’m good enough yet,’ ” she told ESPN.