Venus Williams to play US Open doubles with Leylah Fernandez

NEW YORK — Venus Williams’ run on the 2025 US Open is not over simply but.

One day after dropping a aggressive three-set match to No. 11 seed Karolina Muchova in singles, the 45-year-old Williams was awarded a wild-card entry into the ladies’s doubles draw with 2021 US Open runner-up Leylah Fernandez on Tuesday.

On Monday night time, Williams, a seven-time main champion and former world No. 1, made her twenty fifth US Open foremost draw look — probably the most by any participant for the reason that Open period started — as a wild card, thrilling a capability crowd at Arthur Ashe Stadium.

Williams, the oldest particular person to play singles on the US Open since 1981, made her return to professional tennis final month on the Citi Open after a 16-month absence. She defeated Peyton Stearns, then ranked No. 35 on the planet, to grow to be the second-oldest girl to win a tour-level singles match.

Williams additionally performed on the Cincinnati Open earlier this month and within the US Open blended doubles match final week with Reilly Opelka, dropping within the first spherical. This is the primary main Williams has competed in all three occasions (singles, girls’s doubles, blended doubles) since 1998 Wimbledon.

Williams advised reporters she was “very proud” of how she performed in opposition to Muchova, and stated she was happy with the progress she had made in a brief period of time. However, she had stated she wasn’t planning on coming into another tournaments this season, as she did not need to play outdoors of the United States.

“Can someone move a tournament here? I don’t know that I’m willing to travel that far at this stage in my career to go play,” she stated Monday night time. “I love playing. The level of my game has come up so much since D.C. I tried as hard as I could to throw off any rust, but at the end of the day, there’s only so much that can really be accomplished in three or four matches.”

Williams, who gained 14 Grand Slam doubles titles and three Olympic gold medals alongside sister Serena, will now play with Fernandez, a 22-year-old from Canada, for the primary time. They face the sixth-seeded pair of Lyudmyla Kichenok and Ellen Perez within the first spherical.

Other duos receiving wild playing cards embrace Americans Hailey Baptiste, Williams’ doubles accomplice in Washington, D.C., and Whitney Osuigwe, and the crew of Clervie Ngounoue and Iva Jovic.

ESPN Research contributed to this report.