Venus Williams will compete in girls’s doubles on the US Open after receiving a wildcard entry with 2021 singles runner-up Leylah Fernandez.
Williams and Canadian Fernandez will meet sixth seeds Lyudmyla Kichenok and Ellen Perez within the first spherical.
The 45-year-old Williams is showing at her first Grand Slam event in two years after making a comeback following 16 months away from the tour.
She competed in star-studded blended doubles occasion final week, then in singles on Monday night time – each additionally by way of wildcard invites from the US Tennis Affiliation.
Williams was the oldest participant to compete within the girls’s singles right here since Renee Richards in 1981 and the third oldest of the Open Period.
She had a troublesome draw in opposition to eleventh seed Karolina Muchova, a semi-finalist final 12 months, however made life very uncomfortable for the Czech earlier than finally falling to a 6-3 2-6 6-1 defeat.
Regardless of defeat, Williams was thrilled to be again out on court docket after coping with accidents and sickness.
The American had surgical procedure for uterine fibroids final 12 months, and spoke following her three-set exit about being relieved to be pain-free.
“What did I prove to myself?” Williams mentioned. “I think for me getting back on the court was about giving myself a chance to play more healthy. When you play unhealthy, it’s in your mind. It’s not just how you feel. You get stuck in your mind, too. So, it was nice to be freer.”
Along with her seven Grand Slam singles trophies, Williams received 14 main titles in girls’s doubles, all alongside her youthful sister, Serena.
Two of these victories got here in New York in 1999 and 2009.
They final performed collectively on the US Open in 2022, the 12 months Serena performed her remaining singles match there.
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