Venus Williams will compete in ladies’s doubles on the US Open after receiving a wildcard entry with 2021 singles runner-up Leylah Fernandez.
Williams and Canadian Fernandez will meet sixth seeds Lyudmyla Kichenok and Ellen Perez within the first spherical.
The 45-year-old Williams is showing at her first Grand Slam event in two years after making a comeback following 16 months away from the tour.
She competed in star-studded combined doubles occasion final week, then in singles on Monday evening – each additionally by way of wildcard invites from the US Tennis Affiliation.
Williams was the oldest participant to compete within the ladies’s singles right here since Renee Richards in 1981 and the third oldest of the Open Period.
She had a troublesome draw towards eleventh seed Karolina Muchova, a semi-finalist final 12 months, however made life very uncomfortable for the Czech earlier than finally falling to a 6-3 2-6 6-1 defeat.
Regardless of defeat, Williams was thrilled to be again out on court docket after coping with accidents and sickness.
The American had surgical procedure for uterine fibroids final 12 months, and spoke following her three-set exit about being relieved to be pain-free.
“What did I show to myself?” Williams mentioned. “I feel for me getting again on the court docket was about giving myself an opportunity to play extra wholesome. While you play unhealthy, it is in your thoughts. It is not simply how you are feeling. You get caught in your thoughts, too. So, it was good to be freer.”
Along with her seven Grand Slam singles trophies, Williams gained 14 main titles in ladies’s doubles, all alongside her youthful sister, Serena.
Two of these victories got here in New York in 1999 and 2009.
They final performed collectively on the US Open in 2022, the 12 months Serena performed her closing singles match there.
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