Venus Williams will proceed her skilled tennis comeback on the US Open. The seven-time singles grand slam champion obtained a wild-card entry for the blended doubles occasion alongside fellow American Reilly Opelka, the U.S. Tennis Affiliation affiliation announced Tuesday.
Williams, 45, returned to the WTA Tour final week on the D.C. Open after greater than a 12 months away, defeating Peyton Stearns 6-3, 6-4 within the spherical of 32 to turn out to be the oldest woman to win a WTA Tour-level match since Martina Navratilova in 2004. Williams misplaced to Magdalena Frech 6-2, 6-2 within the spherical of 16. She additionally gained a doubles match alongside Hailey Baptiste on the occasion.
Opelka, 27, stands 6-foot-11 and has an enormous serve. He reached as excessive as No. 17 on the earth rankings in 2022 however has had important damage points lately.
Tennis legend Venus Williams wins first singles match since 2023, delivers nine aces
Jordan Dajani
The USTA made important modifications to the blended doubles occasion, elevating the prize cash and altering the schedule so it would not battle with the singles occasion, so as to draw larger names, according to the Associated Press. The occasion takes place over two days — Aug. 19 and 20 — the week earlier than the singles portion of the event begins.
The trouble appears to have labored. Additionally within the blended doubles subject are males’s world No. 1 Jannik Sinner and No. 2 Carlos Alcaraz, who’ve mixed to win all three singles slam titles this 12 months. American males’s standouts Taylor Fritz and Ben Shelton are additionally within the subject. The best-ranked lady taking part in blended doubles is No. 3 Iga Swiatek.
Williams nonetheless might request — and probably obtain — a wild-card entry for the singles occasion.