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Paris - Making a record 20th appearance at Roland Garros, Venus Williams is looking to finally get her hands on the French Open trophy.
Williams has played in the French Open more than any other woman, but has only gotten past the quarter-finals once - when she lost the 2002 final to younger sister Serena.
"Is it 20 already? I thought I missed a few, but apparently not," Williams said with a smile. "Here we are. You know, what an experience. What can I say?
"It's always an opportunity, for sure. You know, I want to play the kind of tennis that's consistent and aggressive, inspired. That's my goal, really, every match."
Williams turns 37 next month, but is showing no signs of slowing down. The American reached her 15th Grand Slam final in January - nearly eight years after her 14th. She lost the Australian Open to Serena.
Williams attributes her longevity partly to the breaks she has taken during her 23-year career.
"Definitely, I think spacing out how long, how many tournaments I have played, I believe that's helped me," Williams said. "It's not easy emotionally or mentally or physically to do this job, so I think that helps. I haven't had any other experience.
"So would I recommend it? For sure, but I think if you're happy playing a lot of tournaments and you can handle that, then it's not a problem. But if you're not, then you have to space it out."
Williams will play Kurumi Nara of Japan in the second round at Roland Garros after surviving a scare to beat Qiang Wang in straight sets on Sunday.
The 10th-seeded Williams quickly took the first set in 41 minutes, but then had to draw on all her experience to recover from two set points down and go on to take the set - and the match - on a tiebreaker.
Williams eventually triumphed 6-4, 7-6 (7/3) after Wang hit a backhand into the net.
"The first round is always tricky," Williams said. "You know, she played well. I just tried to stay aggressive until the end. You know, you have to still be aggressive even though the courts are slower here on the clay.
"When I was trailing, I know she had done things to earn it, to be at 4-2, so it was a credit to her. But also, I realized I had to put some balls in the court, so that would be my main focus at that point."
Williams added: "I think today the experience helped, for sure. Having the opportunity to play 20 of these tournaments helped me a lot."
Clay is Williams' least favourite surface, but with several of the top stars out or struggling, this could be her year.
Serena is not playing because she is pregnant, while Maria Sharapova's ranking wasn't high enough to gain direct entry into the tournament after a 15-month doping suspension. Tournament organisers did not grant her a wild card.
World No 1 Angelique Kerber lost her first-round match 6-2, 6-2 against 40th-ranked Ekaterina Makarova, while third-seeded Simona Halep is struggling with a right ankle injury.
"All I can speak of are the players that I play against, and they play amazing every time. That's the competition I face," Williams said.
"What other players are doing, I have got to be honest, I don't watch so closely. I just try to understand what can I accomplish. And then after that, I go home."
French Open results on Sunday, the first day of the 2017 tournament at Roland Garros (x denotes seeding):
Men
First round
Marco Trungelliti (ARG) bt Quentin Halys (FRA) 3-6, 6-7 (4/7), 7-6 (7/2), 6-4, 6-4
Guillermo García-López (ESP) bt Gilles Muller (LUX x26) 7-6 (7/4), 6-7 (2/7), 6-2, 6-2
Pablo Carreño-Busta (ESP x20) bt Florian Mayer (GER) 6-4, 6-2, 6-2
Taro Daniel (JPN) bt Jerzy Janowicz (POL) 6-4, 6-4, 6-4
Tommy Robredo (ESP) bt Daniel Evans (GBR) 5-7, 6-4, 6-3, 6-1
Grigor Dimitrov (BUL x11) bt Stéphane Robert (FRA) 6-2, 6-3, 6-4
Mikhail Kukushkin (KAZ) bt Tennys Sandgren (USA) 6-2, 6-1, 6-4
Robin Haase (NED) bt Alex De Minaur (AUS) 6-2, 6-3, 6-1
Dominic Thiem (AUT x6) bt Bernard Tomic (AUS) 6-4, 6-0, 6-2
Ivo Karlovic (CRO x23) bt Stefanos Tsitsipas (GRE) 7-6 (7/5), 7-5, 6-4
Horacio Zeballos (ARG) bt Adrian Mannarino (FRA) 7-5, 6-3, 6-4
Lucas Pouille (FRA x16) bt Julien Benneteau (FRA) 7-6 (8/6), 3-6, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4
Thomaz Belluci (BRA) bt Dusan Lajovic (SRB) 4-6, 7-5, 6-4, 6-4
Benjamin Bonzi (FRA) bt Daniil Medvedev (RUS) 5-7, 6-4, 6-1, 3-1 -- retired
Albert Ramos (ESP x19) bt Marius Copil (ROM) 6-7 (7/9), 6-1, 6-4, 6-2
Women
First round
Ekaterina Makarova (RUS) bt Angelique Kerber (GER x1) 6-2, 6-2
Lesya Tsurenko (UKR) bt Kateryna Kozlova (UKR) 6-4, 6-0
Jelena Ostapenko (LAT) bt Louisa Chirico (USA) 4-6, 6-3, 6-2
Mónica Puig (PUR) bt Roberta Vinci (ITA x31) 6-3, 3-6, 6-2
Bethanie Mattek-Sands (USA) bt Evgeniya Rodina (RUS) 7-5, 6-2
Petra Kvitova (CZE x15) bt Julia Boserup (USA) 6-3, 6-2
Océane Dodin (FRA) bt Camila Giorgi (ITA) 6-2, 6-3
Svetlana Kuznetsova (RUS x8) bt Christina McHale (USA) 7-5, 6-4
Çagla Büyükakçay (TUR) bt Mirjana Lucic-Baroni (CRO x22) 6-3, 6-3
Shelby Rogers (USA) bt Marina Erakovic (NZL) 7-6 (7/4), 6-4
Venus Williams (USA x10) bt Qiang Wang (CHN) 6-4, 7-6 (7/3)
Kurumi Nara (JPN) bt Amanda Anisimova (USA) 3-6, 7-5, 6-4
Timea Bacsinszky (SUI x30) bt Sara Sorribes (ESP) 6-1, 6-2
Madison Brengle (USA) bt Julia Goerges (GER) 1-6, 6-3, 13-11
Dominika Cibulkova (SVK x6) bt Lara Arruabarrena (ESP) 6-2, 6-1
Aliaksandra Sasnovich (BLR) bt Viktorija Golubic (SUI) 4-6, 7-5, 6-3
