Venus Williams Returns to US Open with Wild Card
The legendary tennis player Venus Williams will make her much-anticipated return to a Grand Slam tournament at the US Open. The event organizers granted her a special invitation, marking her participation in singles at Flushing Meadows. At 45 years old, Williams will become the oldest player to compete in singles at the tournament, since Renée Richards in 1981. The American tennis player has also received an invitation to participate in the mixed doubles competition, which will take place next week. The singles matches will begin on August 24 in New York. Venus Williams boasts an impressive record, including seven Grand Slam singles titles, two of them at the US Open (2000 and 2001), as well as 14 women’s doubles titles, all 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 was eliminated in the first round. She has not managed to win a singles match in this tournament since 2019. Williams returned to competitive tennis in July, after more than a year of absence. 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 much of the season. In Washington, she became the oldest woman to win a singles match at the tournament level since Martina Navratilova at Wimbledon in 2004; she also won a doubles match at the DC Open. In the US Open, Williams will play in the mixed doubles tournament from August 19 to 20 with Reilly Opelka, a 27-year-old American tennis player. Other players who received invitations for the US Open women’s singles draw are Americans Clervie Ngounoue, Julieta Pareja, Caty McNally, Valerie Glozman, and Alyssa Ahn, as well as France’s Caroline Garcia and Australia’s Talia Gibson. The male tennis players who received invitations to the US Open are Americans Brandon Holt, Nishesh Basavareddy, Tristan Boyer, Emilio Nava, Stefan Dostanic and Darwin Blanch, as well as Frenchman Valentin Royer and Australian Tristan Schoolkate.“After this match, I feel incredible,” Williams stated after her defeat in Cincinnati. “That means that in this period [before the US Open] I won’t have to deal with injuries. Now I can focus on power and speed instead of just making sure I’m not injured before the tournament.”
Venus Williams
