Four years after a pseudo-retirement, Serena Williams is back in the U.S. Open for a shot at redemption. And this time, she’s teaming up with her older sister, Venus.
The Williams sisters got a wild card Wednesday and will play doubles together next week, the U.S. Tennis Association announced.
It will be the 10th time the pair have played alongside each other in the U.S. Open, a doubles event they have won twice, in 1999 and 2009. The duo have captured 14 major titles together.
Serena Williams, 44, teamed up with 23-year-old phenom Carlos Alcaraz in a dramatic mixed doubles run Tuesday. Both returning from injury, Williams and Alcaraz — who boasts seven Grand Slam singles titles — wowed fans with dazzling rallies and impassioned play in an opening-round win before they were knocked out in the quarterfinals by Belinda Bencic and Flavio Cobolli.
After the loss, Williams told NBC News she was just happy to be back on the court.
“It felt great,” she said. “I haven’t played a ton of tennis, but it still felt good to kind of get back out there and just kind of feel your groove. I honestly never, ever thought I would be back here playing tennis. So it’s kind of surreal.”
Williams is widely considered the greatest women’s tennis player of all time. She has 39 Grand Slam titles (23 singles, 14 women’s doubles and two mixed doubles) and spent 319 weeks ranked No. 1 in the world. Along with Steffi Graf, she is one of only two women to win all four Grand Slam singles titles and an Olympic singles gold medal.
Though she never officially retired, she said she was “evolving away from tennis” in 2022.
Alcaraz, the world No. 3 player, called it a “privilege” to play alongside Williams this week at the U.S. Open.
“I felt the pressure,” he said. “It’s kind of as if I was playing the final of the Grand Slam. I just loved it, and I enjoyed every single second.”
Alcaraz is coming off a four-month layoff following a right wrist injury he sustained at the Barcelona Open in April.
Williams, meanwhile, returned to competitive tennis in June after a four-year break, only to injure her right knee during her first-round singles match at Wimbledon. Given the time away from the game and additional recovery, she said, her relationship with the game has evolved.
“My relationship with tennis is like a love-hate thing,” she told NBC News. “I love it, and then I hate to lose. ... But it’s definitely more fun now. I just try my best not to put as much pressure on myself.”
The first round of the women’s doubles tournament begins Sept. 3.
