As the drumbeats of an incoming major get ever louder, conversations around the tennis orbit have a ring of familiarity — favourites, breakthrough players, conditions, maybe a controversy or two. Yet, beyond the predictable storylines, ever so often, a little nugget offers a captivating sub-plot. At this year’s French Open, starting in a week, 45-year-old Venus Williams will prance onto the doubles court, giving fans just the sort of narrative that grabs attention by the collar.First, the bare facts. The older Williams sibling is a bona fide legend. Former world No. 1, seven singles and fourteen major doubles titles, three Olympic Gold medals — a glittering CV that earns her a spot among the greatest of all time (though Venus would happily concede she’s the second-best player in the Williams family). However, those days of heady success are long gone — Venus last won a major singles title in 2008 and a major doubles trophy in 2016. Yet, the American icon continues to pop up on the WTA tour. She’s lost five of six singles matches this year, expectedly succumbing to younger players that undoubtedly admire her track record, but show no mercy on court. Venus isn’t on the circuit though to add ranking points, titles and prize money to her substantial body of work — her reasons are more primal. It is on these courts that she reconnects with the little girl that first learnt to savour the sweet sound of forehands and backhands.“Love is the key, right?” she said last year when asked why she keeps going. “If you don’t love it, then get out of it, if you can, if you have that luxury. Not everyone has that luxury. For me, I think a lot of the motivation is just to come back and try to play in the best health that I can. I never stopped hit ting the ball, even when I was away.”At the French Open, while Venus will be staying away from the singles competition, she will pair up with 24-year-old Hailey Baptiste in the women’s doubles — a title she has won twice, in 1999 and 2010. Baptiste, ranked 25th on the singles circuit, first met the Williams sisters as a kid when they were playing World Team Tennis, and managed to hit with both. They teamed up last year at the Citi Open in Washington, when Venus returned to action after a 16-month hiatus, an experience Baptiste described as “insane.”“From the moment I heard that we were going to play and it was set up, I was like, that’s all I can think about,” she gushed on a podcast. “I’m about to play with a legend.” When asked about the nerves that come with having a partner of such pedigree, Baptiste joked, “Every ball I miss I’m like ‘she regrets playing with me’. I was obviously crazy nervous. Venus and Serena are obviously the people I looked up to my entire life."While Baptiste will be most adjacent, it is quite certain other players will eagerly soak in the Venus Williams aura in Paris. Her accomplishments will evoke awe, but there is more to imbibe from the playbook. While adding titles and glory remain an elite athlete’s primary driving force — think of a fiercely driven Cristiano Ronaldo, hungrily coveting his first title in the Saudi league at 41, sporting pursuit can have an altogether different essence that flows from the joy of simply executing a skill, simply embracing a craft.“I do what I do because I want to live life the way I want to, unapologetically, with no regrets, on my terms,” Venus explains. “Do my terms always come out the way I want them to? No, but at least I tried to live on my own terms. That is super important to me. That would be my advice: Make your terms and don’t surrender.