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LONDON -- She strode to the net with a clenched fist and a dazzling smile and, after politely shaking hands with yet another opponent, Venus Williams began to giggle like a 12-year-old. As she waved to the appreciative patrons of Court No. 1, she couldn't stop. At the age of 36, Venus remains a phenomenon, defying gravity, not to mention all the conventional laws of physics. On Tuesday, she handled another younger opponent, unseeding 28-year-old Yaroslava Shvedova 7-6 (5), 6-2 to advance to the semifinals at the All England Club. "Oh, wow," Venus said in her off-the-court interview with the BBC. "Somehow, I walked out of that with the [first] set. When you can walk to the net as a winner, that's the goal, that's the dream." Against great odds, Venus continues to live that dream. Next up: No. 4 Angelique Kerber, a straight-sets winner over No. 5 Simona Halep 7-5, 7-6 (2).  It is not too early to start imagining a fifth Serena-Venus Wimbledon final -- the first, incredibly, came 14 years ago. Putting Venus' success this fortnight into a proper context is becoming an increasingly difficult proposition. "No, she shouldn't be doing this," said Mary Joe Fernandez, the U.S. Fed Cup captain and the U.S. Olympic team coach in Rio de Janeiro. "It's ridiculous, crazy good. "She's incredibly resilient. She has a great attitude, and it's put her in position to compete here." Venus is the No. 8-ranked player in the world, which is even more impressive when you consider she's dealing with Sjogren's syndrome, a chronic condition that causes aching joints and bouts of low energy. Here, in her 19th Wimbledon, she tied the Open era record with 71 Grand Slam appearances. And then she became the oldest woman to advance to a major quarterfinal in 22 years, when Martina Navratilova made the final at the age of 37. Wimbledon, of course, has been Venus' signature event. Her unparalleled movement and power landed her in eight finals in the span of a decade. Hard to believe that it was 16 years ago when she beat Lindsay Davenport in the 2000 championship match. The last one was in 2009, when Venus lost to Serena. Lately, it has been more difficult here; this was Venus' first Wimbledon quarterfinal in six years. "Yeah, semifinals feels good," Venus said. "But it doesn't feel foreign at all, let's put it that way. ... Yeah, the road was six years. They go by fast thankfully. But I've been blessed, been really blessed, to have an opportunity to be here, have had an opportunity in the past to do this. I don't have any regrets about anything that's taken place in between. It's been a journey, but it's made me stronger." Fernandez compared Venus, circa 2000, to the present player. "Her movement was unbelievable," said Fernandez, also an ESPN analyst. "She doesn't have that any more. But today, she makes the most out of what she's still got: power, her great play at net and her long reach. "It's just that now every match is an odyssey -- you just don't know. Sometimes depends on how she feels when she wakes up that day." There were times Tuesday when Venus looked her age. She was in position most of the time, but balls that were clearing the net in her earlier matches here sometimes found the net. With the score 2-all in the first-set tiebreaker, Venus hit a vintage approach shot, got a high ball at net -- and clunked an easy winner into the net, then promptly fell down. Shvedova raced off to a 5-2 lead and the set seemed lost. And then Venus won the last five points to take the extra session. In reality, Shvedova lost it; she made five errors, four on the forehand side, to give Williams the first set. She settled in quickly and calmly to break Shvedova in the third and fifth games to secure the second set. Chris Evert was 34 when she made the semifinals here in 1989. She retired later that year after the US Open. "It's been inspiring and impressive that she's still here, still in the game," Evert said. "That's more impressive to me than the fact she's in the quarters. She's enjoying it, winning matches. She doesn't have to be No. 1 to be happy. "She keeps coming back and back again." Ah, but will she come back next year? "Retiring is the easy way out," Williams said. "I don't have time for easy. Tennis is just hard." On the first day of the fortnight, she described "this infinity inside you that feels like it could go on forever." On Tuesday, she explained why. "I love playing the game," Venus said afterward. "I always have. Of course, winning matches makes it much sweeter. The wins and the losses always lead to these big moments, unless you're Serena Williams." Meaning that Serena doesn't experience the downs that mere mortals do. "But as Venus Williams," Venus said, "this is an awesome day."
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