venus

Venus has fared better in doubles in recent years, reaching the quarter-finals in New York last year alongside Canada’s Leylah Fernandez.

She has not won a singles match at a Grand Slam since Wimbledon in 2021, where she reached the second round.

However, the Williams sisters still draw huge crowds together or separately, with stands packed out in Cincinnati for their recent return.

Serena, a 23-time Grand Slam singles champion, played what was expected to be the last tournament of her career in New York in 2022.

However, she made her return first in doubles at Queen’s in June before being given the final Wimbledon women’s singles wildcard.

Venus won her first US Open singles title in 2000, two months after earning her maiden major at Wimbledon.

She beat Serena in the final a year later to defend her title – the first of nine major showpieces the sister would contest.

Venus became the oldest US Open singles player in 44 years when she played at the tournament last year.

She lost in three sets to ninth seed Karolina Muchova and gave an emotional news conference afterwards, saying it was “nice to be free”.

In 2011, Williams was diagnosed with Sjogren’s syndrome, an incurable autoimmune disease with symptoms including pain, numbness and fatigue.

She spoke in 2025 about the impact of painful fibroids – abnormal growths that develop in the uterus – on her daily life.

In the men’s draw, France’s Gael Monfils has been awarded a wildcard in the final Grand Slam of his career.

The 39-year-old, who reached the New York semi-finals in 2016, will retire at the end of the season.

There is also one remaining wildcard for the men’s singles, which could go to 2016 champion Stan Wawrinka.

The Swiss is also calling time on his career at the end of the year.

Seven-time Grand Slam winner Venus Williams defeated 6-2, 6-2 by Emiliana Arango in the first round of Cincinnati Open.

Venus Williams’s losing streak in singles play has reached 13 matches.

The seven-time major champion was defeated 6-2, 6-2 by Emiliana Arango late on Friday in the first round of the Cincinnati Open.

The 46-year-old Williams received a wild-card entry to the WTA 1000 event. She has not won a singles match since July 2025.

Arango, a 25-year-old qualifier from Colombia ranked 95th, needed 1 hour, 5 minutes to defeat Williams on the grandstand court at Lindner Tennis Center.

Williams had her serve broken in the first game of the match and faced an uphill battle the rest of the way. Arango was 4 of 5 on converting break points and won 71 percent of her first-serve points.

Williams was unable to convert on her lone break opportunity and was only 41 percent on first-serve points.

“That kind of eased my nerves a little bit of having maybe a little bit of breathing room. And then I think I just did a good job of staying on it, trying to make her play as much as possible,” Arango said about getting ahead early.

Arango will face No 7 seed and defending Cincinnati champion Iga Swiatek in the second round.

Williams’s last singles victory came last year in Washington, when she defeated Peyton Stearns.

“I think that at all times I was really controlling the point, but unfortunately didn’t finish it the way I wanted to,” said Williams, who is making her 11th appearance in the tournament. “The encouraging part is that I’m controlling the shots, but I have to just get a little more consistent on that last part.”

Williams will remain in Cincinnati to play doubles with her sister, Serena, after they received a wild-card entry. They last played doubles together at the 2022 US Open.

The Williams sisters were slated to play doubles at Wimbledon before an injury to Serena. They will play Marta Kostyuk and Peyton Stearns in the first round.

The doubles portion of the tournament starts on Sunday.

“I’m excited and hope that we can both go into it fresh, on our toes and ready. I’ll be preparing for that,” Venus Williams said.

Venus is also slated to play mixed doubles at the US Open later this month with Alexander Bublik.

The Williams sisters are back on track for their doubles reunion.

Serena and Venus Williams were awarded a wild-card entry for the doubles tournament at the Cincinnati Open, organizers announced Monday. Venus was also awarded a wild-card entry for the women’s singles competition. The event will take place Aug. 8-23, with matches kicking off on Aug. 11.

This will mark the first time the iconic duo will be on the court together since the 2022 U.S. Open. The Williams sisters were previously set to play doubles together at Wimbledon last month, but had to withdraw after Serena injured her knee during the singles competition. The loss to Maya Joint marked the younger Williams’ first singles match in almost four years.

The Williams sisters have won 14 Grand Slam doubles titles and three Olympic gold medals together. Fans have been anticipating their doubles reunion since Serena announced her return to competitive tennis in June.

The 44-year-old’s first event back was the doubles tournament at the HSBC Queen’s Club Championships in London earlier this summer, where she teamed up with Canadian Victoria Mboko. They won their first match, but had to exit after Mboko suffered a knee injury. Williams then partnered with Czech star Karolína Muchová for the WTA 500 Berlin Open. They were eliminated in the first round.

Venus, meanwhile, is competing in her record 33rd consecutive WTA season at age 46. She has previously reached the semifinals and quarterfinals at the Cincinnati Open in 2012 and 2019, respectively, and she holds a 12-10 overall record at the event.

This is the first time the Williams sisters will compete at the Cincinnati Open together as a team. The event is considered a premier warm-up tournament ahead of the U.S. Open, where Venus is set to play mixed doubles with Alexander Bublik. Serena has not yet said whether she plans to play the final Grand Slam of the year, which she has won six times in her singles career. The U.S. Open will be held from Aug. 23 to Sept. 13 in New York.

A duo for the ages is convening once again.

The Williams sisters — Venus, 45, and Serena, 44 — will bring back their doubles partnership at Wimbledon in under two weeks. The All England Club announced the doubles wild card invitation on Tuesday.

Should they win for a record seventh time, the Williams sisters would make history as the oldest Grand Slam-winning doubles combo by nearly 16 years.

The record of 74 years and 303 days is held by Hsieh Su-wei and Barbora Strýcová, who won at Wimbledon in 2023. Venus will turn 46 on Wednesday and Serena will be 45 on Sept. 26, putting their combined age by the tournament’s end at 90 years and roughly 290 days.

The Williams sisters have won six doubles titles together at Wimbledon, most recently in 2016 with the first coming in 2000. They have won 14 Grand Slam doubles titles together, the second most by any women’s team in the Open Era behind the 20 won by Martina Navratilova and Pam Shriver.

Serena recently returned to competition after almost four years away from professional tennis. She will compete in the Berlin Open doubles alongside world No. 10 singles player Karolína Muchová on Tuesday against Erin Routliffe and Giuliana Olmos.

The initial tournament in Serena’s comeback was abbreviated. Her playing partner, Canadian teenager Victoria Mboko, suffered a knee injury that ended their effort at the Queen’s Club Championship after one match, a 7-6(2), 6-2 victory over No. 3 seeds Erin Routliffe and Nicole Melichar-Martinez.

Venus, who will turn 46 on Wednesday, is in the midst of her record 33rd consecutive WTA season. She has been eliminated in the first round of singles at several tournaments while faring better in doubles.

The pairing at Wimbledon will be the first since 2022 for the Williams sisters. Serena took a long hiatus beginning that year and gave birth in 2023 to her second child, Adira River Ohanian.

Many of the sisters’ career highlights have come at Wimbledon. Serena has 14 titles on the hallowed grass court — six in doubles, one mixed doubles and seven in singles. Venus Williams has won 11 Wimbledon titles — five in singles and six in doubles.

Neither Williams sister is slated to play singles in this year’s tournament, although one women’s singles wild card has not been allocated.