French Open 2012 Results: Strong Result Puts Venus Williams on Pace for Olympics

Venus Williams' come-from-behind win over Paula Ormaechea at the French Open on Sunday has her back on track to qualify for the 2012 Summer Olympics in London.

Which may not seem like that big a deal at first glance. After all, Venus is still one the biggest names in women's tennis, a seven-time Grand Slam champion who, despite her age, is one of the few noteworthy American racqueteers on the international circuit these days.

Yet, her return to the Olympics—or any competition, for that matter—had been anything but certain up until recently. The elder Williams sister struggled through injuries and inconsistency for most of 2011 before being diagnosed with Sjongren's syndrome, an autoimmune disorder, and withdrawing from the US Open as a result.

Venus remained out of meaningful competition until returning to singles competition in March. The layoff allowed her to learn how to not only live with the illness, but continue to compete with it, even as she slipped out of the top 50 in the world rankings for the first time since 1997. 

And not just the top 50, either. Williams ended 2011 at 102 and fell as far as 135 in the global hierarchy prior to reaching the quarterfinals in Miami, Charleston and Rome. Those results helped to catapult Venus back into Olympic consideration; her current ranking of 53rd comes in just above the top-56 cut-off. Williams is one of three American women who meet the criteria, joining sister Serena (fifth) and Christine McHale (36th).

Should Venus parlay her win over Ormaechea (4-6, 6-1, 6-3) into success against Monday's winner between Agnieszka Radwanska and Bojana Jovanovski, she'll further solidify her case for a place in the Olympics. She's won three gold medals on the world stage—in singles and doubles (with Serena, of course) in Sydney in 2000, and again in doubles in Beijing in 2008. 

And, really, who better to represent the Red, White and Blue on the courts at Wimbledon than Venus Wiliams, who's won five titles there over the course of her illustrious career?

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