Serena Williams
Serena Williams will pair with Carlos Alcaraz in mixed doubles on her return to the US Open.
The United States Tennis Association announced on Saturday that it had awarded Williams and Alcaraz a wild card into the mixed doubles main draw. The event begins on Tuesday, and the winning team will split $1 million.
This will be Williams’s first appearance at the US Open since 2022. The 23-time Grand Slam singles champion returned to competition this summer after stepping away from the tour for a period.
Alcaraz wrote, “Let’s gooooo!”
Williams will not play singles in New York. The USTA had reserved one women’s singles wild card but on Saturday allocated it to American Sofia Kenin, the 2020 Australian Open champion.
Williams suffered a knee injury in her first-round singles loss at Wimbledon and later played doubles with her sister Venus at the Cincinnati Open; the pair could still enter the US Open doubles draw together.
Alcaraz confirmed this week he will attempt to defend his US Open singles title after missing time since April with a right wrist injury.
Williams previously won the US Open mixed doubles title in 1998 with Max Mirnyi, before she won any of her six singles titles at the event. Mirnyi is now part of the coaching team for Aryna Sabalenka.
The USTA changed the mixed doubles format last year to a two day, 16-team event intended to attract top singles players; the organisation detailed this modification in its competition-format notes.
