Serena Williams is returning to the US Open for the first time since 2022, after the USTA awarded her and Carlos Alcaraz a wildcard into the tournament’s mixed doubles championship, pairing two of tennis’s biggest names for the final Grand Slam of the year.
A Full-Circle Moment
The USTA announced the wildcard on Saturday, August 22, confirming what had been widely speculated since Williams resumed competitive play earlier this year. Williams, a 23-time Grand Slam singles champion and five-time US Open women’s singles winner, has not appeared at Flushing Meadows since 2022, when she played what was widely assumed to be the final tournament of her career, though she never formally announced her retirement.
“I don’t need to win. I’ve won more than most people have in their whole lives,” Williams told reporters ahead of her return this year. “It’s important that I keep reminding myself of that because I don’t have anything to prove, I don’t have anything to lose. And everything here is just to gain.”
The Comeback So Far
Williams returned to professional tennis in June, playing doubles with Victoria Mboko at the HSBC Championships in London, before accepting wild cards to play both singles and doubles at Wimbledon. She lost in the first round of singles to 20 year old Maya Joint, and a knee injury later forced her to withdraw from a planned doubles match alongside her sister Venus. The two sisters did reunite for doubles at the Cincinnati Open earlier this month, their first pairing since 2022, when they lost to Czech duo Lucie Hradecka and Linda Noskova.
Williams has not confirmed whether she will also compete in singles at this year’s US Open, though the USTA is still holding one women’s singles wild card that could go to her if she chooses to enter.
A Marquee Doubles Draw
The mixed doubles field is stacked well beyond Williams and Alcaraz. World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka will partner Novak Djokovic, while Jessica Pegula and Taylor Fritz have re-paired after qualifying based on their combined singles ranking. Qualifying for the mixed doubles event begins Monday, with the main draw split across Tuesday and Wednesday, and the winning pair splitting a $1 million prize.
For Alcaraz, the two-time defending singles champion, the mixed doubles appearance offers a chance to shake off rust following a four month absence with a wrist injury before his singles title defence begins later this month.
