Venus Williams has stressed she has no plans to call time on her tennis career in the near future.

The former world number one, currently ranked at seven, turned 36 last month and there has been speculation she could retire at the end of the year.

However, the seven-time Grand Slam champion has stressed that she intends to continue playing for as long as she can.
‘I’m pretty much the most mature on tour,” she said, as reported by Tennis World USA.

“There’s no a lot of people older than me. But I take that as a compliment because I love being out here and it proves that you don’t have to go until you’re good and ready. So when I’m good and ready I’ll go but now is not the time.”

Williams is without a major singles title since her Wimbledon success in 2008 but she did reach the semi-finals at SW19 earlier this year, her first last four appearance since the 2010 US Open.

The two-time US Open winner is priced at 51.00 to win this year’s edition of the tournament, having reached the quarter-finals in 2015, and younger sister Serena – the current world number one – is the 2.20 favourite.

Fellow Americans Sloane Stephens and Madison Keys are 41.00 and 21.00 respectively to win the US Open, while Romania’s Simona Halep is an 11.00 shot as she seeks a first ever Grand Slam crown.

The US Open begins on August 29 and runs until September 11 in New York.