NEW YORK – Venus Williams will return to Grand Slam tennis at the U.S. Open after two years of absence and received a universal invitation on Wednesday to compete in a singles match at 45-year-old Flushing Meadows.
According to the International Tennis Federation, the Americans will be the oldest singles contestant since Renee Richards was 47 in 1981.
Williams has been offered by the American Tennis Association a wild game for next week’s mixed doubles competition. Singles matches will begin in New York on August 24.
She is the owner of seven major singles champions, including 14 more women’s doubles at the 2000 and 2001 U.S. Open, all winning the championship with her sister Serena, plus two mixed doubles. Serena retired with 23 Grand Slam singles trophys after playing at the 2022 U.S. Open.
The older Williams played for the 2023 Grand Slam Championship for the last time, losing in the first round. She hasn’t won a singles match since 2019.
When Williams returned to the Tour at the DC Open last month, her first game was played anywhere at any time in 16 months, a reporter asked if it was a one-off thing or if there were other tournament plans.
“I’m just here now, who knows?” she replied. “Maybe there are more. … But for the moment, I’m just not playing for a year. I can play tennis without a doubt, but obviously coming back to play and it takes some time to get into the swing of the game. I’ll definitely feel like I’ll play well. I’m still the same player. I’m the same player. I’m a big hitter. I’m my brand. It’s my brand.” It’s my brand. ”
Last year, Williams had surgery to remove uterine fibroids and missed most of the season. Her first match in Washington this July, she became the oldest woman to win a tour singles match since Martina Navratilova in 2004. Williams also won the doubles at the DC Open.
In the process, Williams has attracted a lot of attention for her tennis, yes, but also let the world know her engagement with an Italian actor, and her half-joking comments about the need to return to court to get health insurance coverage.
“I love Venus. We are friends. I really don’t know that this is something she still wants to do. But I don’t know that this is something she doesn’t want to do,” said Mark Ein, president of the Washington Hard Fult Championship. “I was surprised. It was a surprise.”
Williams also entered Cincinnati open last week via wildcards, exiting in the first round of singles.
In New York, she will compete with 27-year-old American Reilly Opelka in a mixed doubles match from August 19-20, who has been ranked in the top 20.
Other women who won singles wildcards for the U.S. Open are Americans Clevie Ngounoue, Julieta Pareja, Caty McNally, Valerie Glozman and Alyssa Ahn, and France’s Caroline Garcia, who will compete in the last Grand Slam Championship before retirement and compete in Australia’s Talia Gibson before retirement.
The man’s wildcards were given to Americans Brandon Holt, Nishesh Basavaddy, Tristan Boyer, Emilio Nava, Stefan Dostanic and Darwin Blanch, as well as Valentin Royer of France and Principal Tristan of Australia.
