Photo credit: Rob Stone/@RobStoneTennis
NEW YORK—Venus Williams lit up Arthur Ashe Stadium in her opening-round singles loss to Karolina Muchova last night.
The two-time US Open champion will be doubling up in Flushing Meadows.
The 45-year-old Williams has accepted a wild card into US Open doubles partnering 2021 singles finalist Leylah Fernandez, the tournament announced today.
The full wild card entries are below:
US Open Women’s Doubles Wild Cards
Venus Williams and Leylah Fernandez
Hailey Baptiste and Whitney Osuigwe
Reese Brantmeier and Alanis Hamilton
Carmen Corley and Ivana Corley
Kristina Penickova and Thea Frodin
Clervie Ngounoue and Iva Jovic
Julieta Pareja and Akasha Urhobo
Venus Williams and Serena Williams won the 1999 and 2009 US Open doubles championships. Fernandez and Williams are in the top quarter of the draw headed by top seeds Taylor Townsend and Katerina Siniakova.
yudmyla Kichenok and Jelena Ostapenko won the 2024 US Open women’s doubles championship. Williams and Fernandez will play sixth seeds Kichenkok and Ellen Perez in their opener. The 29-year-old Perez reached a career-high doubles ranking of No. 7.
Former No. 1 Venus Williams partnered Hailey Baptiste in Washington, DC doubles. The pair won their first-round match before bowing to Townsend and Shuai Zhang, 4-6, 6-3, 6-10 in the quarterfinals.