Attention tennis fanatics! Venus Williams returns to action at the US Open, marking her return to a Grand Slam tournament after a two-year absence. The iconic American tennis player, at 45 years old, has received a wild card invitation to compete in singles at Flushing Meadows. According to data from the International Tennis Federation, Williams will become the oldest player to participate in singles in the tournament, since Renée Richards, who competed at 47 years old in 1981. Williams had already secured her participation in the tournament by receiving an invitation to the mixed doubles draw, courtesy of the United States Tennis Association. The singles matches will begin on August 24 in New York. Throughout her brilliant career, Williams has conquered seven individual Grand Slam titles, including the US Open in the years 2000 and 2001. In addition, she has 14 titles in women’s doubles, all obtained with her sister Serena, and two in mixed doubles. Williams’ last participation in a Grand Slam tournament was at the 2023 US Open, where she fell in the first round. Since 2019, she has not managed to win a singles match in this tournament. After more than a year away from the courts, Williams returned to competition in July. She achieved a victory at the DC Open before being eliminated in the first round in Cincinnati last week.
Last year, Williams underwent surgery to remove uterine fibroids and missed a large part of the season. In Washington, she became the oldest woman to win a singles match at tour level since Martina Navratilova, who was 47 at Wimbledon in 2004. Williams also won a doubles match at the DC Open. In New York, Williams will compete in the mixed doubles tournament from August 19 to 20 alongside Reilly Opelka, a 27-year-old American tennis player who was once among the top 20 in the world. Other players who have received wild cards for the US Open are Clervie Ngounoue, Julieta Pareja, Caty McNally, Valerie Glozman and Alyssa Ahn, as well as Caroline Garcia, who will play her last Grand Slam tournament before retiring, and Talia Gibson. As for the men, wild cards were awarded to Brandon Holt, Nishesh Basavareddy, Tristan Boyer, Emilio Nava, Stefan Dostanic and Darwin Blanch, as well as Valentin Royer and Tristan Schoolkate.Coming out of this match, I feel incredible. That means that in this next period [before the US Open] I won’t have to fix injuries. Now I can work on power and speed instead of just trying to make sure I’m not injured before entering the tournament.
Venus Williams
