Venus Williams awarded US Open singles wildcard as one women's spot remains
Venus Williams has been awarded a wildcard into the US Open singles draw in New York, with the main draw due to begin on Sunday, 30 August. One women's singles wildcard remains and sister Serena Williams could still join the field.
Venus, 46, first played in New York 29 years ago and reached the singles final on her debut in 1997; she won the US Open in 2000 and 2001, two of her seven Grand Slam singles titles. The tournament organisers have given direct entry into the main draw to Venus and 2017 champion Sloane Stephens. Serena returned to competitive tennis in June, four years after "evolving away" from the sport, and she played singles at Wimbledon this year.
Venus’s recent singles form has been limited: she has played sporadically on the WTA Tour over the past four years, lost all 10 of her matches this season and is winless in 13. Her last singles victory came in Washington in July 2025. She did not play singles at Wimbledon and has had just one Grand Slam singles match this year — a first-round defeat to Serbia’s Olga Danilovic at the Australian Open.
The Williams sisters have combined in doubles this summer; they were due to play at SW19 but withdrew after Serena injured her knee in her first-round singles loss to Maya Joint. The pair returned together at the Cincinnati Open on Tuesday, losing in three sets, and Venus reached the US Open doubles quarter-finals last year alongside Canada’s Leylah Fernandez.
Serena is a 23-time Grand Slam singles champion who played what was expected to be the final tournament of her career in New York in 2022, then returned first in doubles at Queen’s in June before receiving the final Wimbledon women’s singles wildcard. Her comeback so far has comprised three doubles matches and one singles match, and the Cincinnati match was her first in seven weeks after the knee injury.
Venus has notable historical and health context recorded in recent years: she became the oldest US Open singles player in 44 years when she played last year, losing in three sets to ninth seed Karolina Muchova and telling reporters it was "nice to be free". In 2011 she was diagnosed with Sjogren's syndrome, and she spoke in 2025 about the impact of painful fibroids on her daily life.
In the wider entry picture, France’s Gael Monfils has received a wildcard in what has been described as the final Grand Slam of his career, and one wildcard remains for the men’s singles draw, with 2016 champion Stan Wawrinka a possible recipient as he plans to step away at the end of the year. Wildcards for the women’s doubles have not yet been announced, and there are three remaining places in the revamped mixed doubles competition that starts on 24 August.
The USTA appears to be holding a singles wildcard open for Serena, as the All England Club did ahead of Wimbledon, while Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz are back in training after knee and wrist injuries but have not committed to New York; the mixed doubles event that precedes the singles draw may offer a route back into competition for players returning from injury.