Venus Williams will make her return to Grand Slam tennis on the US Open after a two-year absence, receiving a wild card into the ladies’s singles aged 45.
The seven-time Grand Slam champion – two of these successes coming at Flushing Meadows in 2000 and 2001 – would be the oldest singles entrant on the event since Renee Richards when aged 47 in 1981, in accordance with the Worldwide Tennis Federation.
Williams already had been given a wild card by the US Tennis Affiliation for subsequent week’s blended doubles competitors, with the singles event ranging from August 24 – reside on Sky Sports activities.
She received seven main singles championships – together with on the US Open in 2000 and 2001 – together with one other 14 in ladies’s doubles, all received together with her youthful sister, Serena, plus two in blended doubles.
Williams’ youthful sister Serena retired with 23 Grand Slam singles trophies after enjoying on the 2022 US Open, whereas Venus’ final look at a slam got here at Flushing Meadows in 2023, shedding within the first spherical. She hasn’t received a singles match there since 2019.
When Williams got here again to the tour final month on the DC Open in Washington – her first match anyplace in 16 months – a reporter requested whether or not it could be a one-time factor or if there have been plans for different tournaments.
“I’m just here for now, and who knows?” Williams replied on the time. “Possibly there’s extra, however for the time being, I am centered simply on this. I have never performed in a 12 months.
“There is no doubt I can play tennis, but obviously coming back to play matches, it takes time to get in the swing of things.
“I undoubtedly really feel I will play nicely; I am nonetheless the identical participant. I am a giant hitter, I hit large. That is my model.”
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Seven-time Grand Slam winner Venus Williams has refused to rule out a full-time return to tennis.
Final 12 months, Williams had surgical procedure to take away uterine fibroids and missed a lot of the season.
In Washington, she competed for the primary time since March 2024 on the Miami Open and have become the oldest girl to win a tour-level singles match since Martina Navratilova was 47 at Wimbledon in 2004. Williams additionally received a doubles match on the DC Open.
Williams entered the Cincinnati Open by way of a wild card final week, exiting within the first spherical of the singles event.
In New York, she is going to play within the August 19-20 blended doubles event with Reilly Opelka, a 27-year-old American who was previously ranked within the high 20.
Watch the Cincinnati Open up till August 18 earlier than we head to the US Open in New York for qualifying and the primary draw from August 24 at 3pm, reside on Sky Sports activities or stream with NOW and the Sky Sports activities app, giving Sky Sports activities prospects entry to over 50 per cent extra reside sport this 12 months at no additional price. Discover out extra right here.
