Venus Williams is a multiple-time Grand Slam champion, in singles and doubles. The American boasts five Wimbledon and two US Open singles titles, to go with a staggering 14 doubles crowns across all four Majors, all of them alongside younger Serena.

The siblings have won three Olympic Games doubles gold medals, while Venus is a singles gold medallist too, having gone all the way at the Sydney Games in 2000. But she is no longer the force she once used to be, of course.

In 2011, she was diagnosed with Sjogren’s Syndrome, a chronic systemic autoimmune disease which affects the entire body and is generally characterised by dry eyes, dry mouth, fatigue and joint pain. But typical of the spunk and spirit that have been the hallmark of a journey which began in October 1994, she refused to let it define her or her career.

Legend of longevity

Venus is now 45, has been on the circuit for nearly 32 years, and while she has clearly slowed down, she is showing no signs of stopping.

Last September, she reached the quarterfinals of the women’s doubles event at the US Open in the company of Leylah Fernandez. In a fortnight’s time, she will line up at the French Open alongside Hailey Baptiste, a 24-year-old fellow American, while waiting to see if she will be awarded a wildcard for the singles competition.

Singles play has increasingly gotten unrewarding for the superstar, who has won just seven matches on the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) Tour since the beginning of 2021 (her record is an unflattering 7-32).

Her last Tour win came in July 2025, and she is sitting on a 10-match losing streak. But for Venus, tennis is no longer about just winning or losing. It’s what she loves doing the most, hitting balls on a court, though there is a lot more to Venus Williams than just tennis.

Age is no barrier

Not unlike Cristiano Ronaldo, the Portuguese ace. With a small difference — winning still means the world to the 41-year-old.

Ronaldo has won just about everything there is to win — Premier League titles, LaLiga crowns, Champions League trophies, the Euro, Nations League and Ballon d’Or. He is now totally committed to winning a maiden league title in Saudi Arabia, where he has been representing Al Nassr since 2023.

He has scored 26 goals in 33 Saudi Pro League (SPL) fixtures this season and should wrap his hands around another trophy in a few days’ time, though everyone who is even remotely invested in football knows that the SPL title isn’t his ultimate goal.

That is the FIFA World Cup, where Portugal have never so much as made the finals. Ronaldo is primed for one last shot at the most coveted silverware in football when the World Cup begins in the Americas next month.

Portugal have the team to get there; if Ronaldo needs further inspiration (doubtful), he only has to think of the other great champion of his generation, Lionel Messi, whose persistence was finally rewarded four years ago in Qatar where Argentina defeated France on penalties.

Messi is 38 but as prolific as ever as he eyes a second crown; he was his country’s leading scorer with eight goals in the South American World Cup qualifying campaign and is primed for a sixth appearance at the sport’s flagship event.

Three champions – one 45, another 41, the third 38 – pursuing their passion and quest of excellence, driven by different ambitions but united by commitment.

Among pantheon of greats

Just like a 37-year-old (significantly younger than all bar Messi) who knows not what it is to go slow, who hasn’t heard of the phrase ‘take it easy’, who is consumed by his love for his sport and who is the ultimate role model for peers and younger generations alike.

On Wednesday night, Virat Kohli made a sparkling, record-extending ninth IPL ton. Okay, so ‘sparkling’ is redundant because he doesn’t make centuries of any other kind.

No one needs any proof, ever, that Kohli is anything but switched on; Wednesday was mere affirmation of the pride in performance that nestles in his lithe frame. That, and his unwavering desire to put team above everything else, no matter what.

Kohli was coming off a brace of ducks — rarer than hen’s teeth — in his previous two outings, which lasted a grand total of three deliveries. In one of those strange quirks, he had gone from not courting a nought for three years to suffering that indignity twice in as many knocks.

A zero is just that and nothing more, no reflection on an individual’s ability — Sunil Gavaskar was dismissed off the first ball of a Test three times, G.R. Vishwanath’s first Test innings read 0 — but in a number-driven game, it rankles, however infrequently it might come about.

Small wins matter

No one was more mindful of the need to get off the mark on Wednesday than Kohli. Not pressure, not reinforcement, but just that natural urge to get off the dreaded nought. So, when he nudged debutant left-arm pacer Saurabh Dubey for a single to mid-wicket off the last ball of the first over of Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s chase against Kolkata Knight Riders, he ‘celebrated’ the event with a first pump. How cute.

Kohli was playing to the gallery, of course, knowing that seldom had one run delighted so many. He must have been relieved that he had staved off the hat-trick (of zeroes), but he hadn’t taken guard just to get off the mark.

There was a match to be won, a job to be completed, a target to be chased down. And, as history will testify, no one is more adept at chasing down the target than the right-hander with a computer for a brain and with a game that can only remain an elusive mirage for mere mortals.

It’s no secret that Kohli is now only a one-format international (he has been for 12 months) and because that format (50-over cricket) isn’t as prevalent as the other two, he doesn’t have access to the same game-time as those involved in either Tests or T20 Internationals.

That means he, like Rohit Sharma, his successor as the National captain, must find ways to keep himself physically fit, mentally sorted and be on top of his game batting-wise. Both champions understand that they are under greater scrutiny than before, and than the others.

How they have responded is a lesson in self-motivation and the hunger and discipline that only rests with the truly driven.

Kohli is a camera-magnet, and he loves the attention. He is the consummate showman, able to switch on a dazzling smile and ditch it, all in the space of a fraction of a second. He loves engaging with the crowd — on his terms — and has been more animated this IPL season than ever before.

Truly one of a kind

He celebrates an opposition wicket like it is his first match, not his trillionth, and he still launches into awe-inspiring stroke-making with a silken touch and an innate orthodoxy that not even the supposedly unyielding demands of the 20-over game have impacted adversely.

He is electric on the field, is his worst critic when there is that almost impossible eventuality – a misfield – and runs between the wickets like he is still trying to make a name and establish himself, not like someone with 14,027 T20 runs (he became the fastest to that milestone in Raipur on Wednesday) or with more than 28,000 (and counting) international runs.

Kohli does everything (very, very well) in fast-forward mode without even attempting to do so. He makes the most difficult appear ridiculously commonplace and straightforward; maybe his batting should come with a disclaimer — ‘Performed by an expert, don’t try this at home’.

Even as he is still a student who, by his own admission, learns something new every day, he is also a senior statesman and a mentor, tags that he lives up to effortlessly. Indeed, minutes after his unbeaten 105 muscled the defending champions to the top of the table, Kohli found time – and the energy – for an extended one-on-one conversation with Angkrish Raghuvanshi, the KKR wicketkeeper-batter who had made a polished half-century earlier.

The young man hung on to every word, understanding the privilege of being privy to the thinking of someone who has been there, done that.

Hungry for more

Like Ronaldo and Messi, Kohli has a clear goal ahead of him — the next 50-over World Cup in about 17 months’ time in the Africas. A year and a half is a long time and so much can happen, but there is a sense of certainty that Kohli will leave no stone unturned if another chance to test himself against the best in the business still appeals to him.

And rest assured, he won’t be there merely for the ride.

Rovman Powell could not hold on to a tough catch offered by Virat Kohli.
| Photo Credit: Emmanual Yogini

RCB batter Virat Kohli.
| Photo Credit: SHIV KUMAR PUSHPAKAR

Lucknow Super Giants’ Avesh Khan is bowled out by Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s Rasikh Salam
| Photo Credit: Reuters

From left, Mumbai Indians’ Jasprit Bumrah, Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s Virat Kohli and former cricketer and commentator Ravi Shastri before an Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 T20 cricket match between Mumbai Indians and Royal Challengers Bengaluru, in Mumbai, Maharashtra, Sunday, April 12, 2026.
| Photo Credit: PTI

Hot commodity: Samson, who delivered a masterpiece at the ICC T20 World Cup and won the Lead Actor honours, is primed to extend his purple patch in Chennai’s Yellow.
| Photo Credit: CSK

Royal Challengers Bengaluru batter Virat Kohli seen during a practice session in Bengaluru.
| Photo Credit: K. Murali Kumar

RCB’s new signing Jordan Cox is all ears as Virat Kohli makes a point during practice on Wednesday.
| Photo Credit: K. MURALI KUMAR

Those calling for the heads of contemporary cricket’s two most influential coaches, India’s Gautam Gambhir and England’s Brendon McCullum ignore that the metric by which success is measured might be changing. England lost the Ashes series in Australia while India’s recent loss to New Zealand followed losses at home and away.

Sometimes it seems that today’s coaches are not judged on results alone — although Gambhir must hope that India win the World T20 next month so he can breathe more freely. They are judged on team culture. Are the players happy? Are they improving? Are they expressing themselves?

McCullum has said he is not for “being told what to do.” That sounds like something Gambhir, less articulate and more aggressive, might say too.

A consequence of the modern game’s formats and data-driven approach is the modified role of the coach. The cricket coach once existed in the margins. He was there to oil the machinery, not redesign it. The captain ruled, the selectors ordained, and the coach was merely the man in the background, often in a floppy hat, occasionally blamed when nothing else worked.

The modern coach has moved from the shadows to the centre as strategist, psychologist, data interpreter, public speaker, and damage controller. In the amateur era, coaching was considered unnecessary. Great players were assumed to be self-explanatory texts. A coach, if appointed, was often a senior figure whose authority came from past deeds rather than present ideas. He was there to nod wisely, occasionally say “well played”, and ensure the nets were rolled properly. The captain decided the team, the batting order, and the tactics.

Curator of knowledge

Video analysis, fitness metrics, opposition data, and the tyranny of spreadsheets have transformed the coach into a curator of knowledge. Someone had to connect the numbers to the humans. The captain still led on the field, but the coach now shaped strategy. Preparation was power. T20 compressed authority. The coach, who lived in the future, suddenly had more influence than the captain who lived in the present.

Players are brands, investments, and fragile assets. They are managed across formats, franchises, and national loyalties. Someone must coordinate all this to keep chaos at bay. Welcome, the McCullums and the Gambhirs.

The relationship between coach and captain is crucial, but they are human beings, with egos and failings. When tensions arise, it is unclear who ranks higher. This ambiguity is new, and cricket is still adjusting to it. 

A Virat Kohli as skipper is unhappy with an Anil Kumble as coach, and the latter loses his job. A Gambhir possibly has issues with Rohit Sharma, and out goes the captain. Gambhir is the closest cricket has had to a football supremo. This has to do as much with his cricketing credentials as his political ones as a prominent member of the ruling party.

England’s coach thinks up a system first and then squeezes his players into it. Bazball is not everybody’s cup of tea, but it was successful. Many who supported it initially are its biggest critics now. This might qualify as bad faith, but critics are human too. If McCullum loses his job, what made England cricket so attractive might be jettisoned.

Skipper Ben Stokes has been supportive of his coach. Indian captains rarely express opinions beyond the ‘official’, so we don’t know what they think.

Losing coaches often say that a coach is only as good as the players under him. Had India won the last Test series in England (they drew 2-2), both debutant skipper Shubhman Gill and coach Gambhir would have received credit, although how much each got is not easily calculated.

And that’s the issue. You can’t put a number on team spirit, culture etc. except by the old metric. Team spirit leads to wins. The culture in a winning team is fine. Sometimes the abstract is easier to understand than the concrete. Those asking for the heads of McCullum and Gambhir are saying in effect that only results matter.

Reality in cricket has moved beyond the methods to calculate it. The important question belongs to the old metric, however: Did the decisions lead to victory? McCullum and Gambhir are caught in the cleft between process and outcome, between the old and the new.

Published – January 21, 2026 12:35 am IST

Virat Kohli in action during his splendid knock in the third and final ODI in Indore on January 18, 2026
| Photo Credit: PTI