Venus Williams’ comeback is headed to the U.S. Open next month, when she will enter the redesigned mixed doubles tournament with Reilly Opelka via a wild-card entry.
The 45-year-old Williams, who returned to the tennis tour at the DC Open last week after more than a year away, and Opelka were among the 14 teams announced Tuesday by the U.S. Tennis Association for its mixed doubles event on Aug. 19-20.
Eight of the pairings received direct entry into the field based on having the highest combined current singles rankings, and six were given wild cards by the USTA.
The players with spots in the bracket include nine who have won at least one Grand Slam singles title and 14 who are ranked in the WTA or ATP top 10 for singles.
The eight duos with direct entry are No. 11 Emma Navarro and No. 1 Jannik Sinner; No. 10 Paula Badosa and No. 5 Jack Draper; No. 3 Iga Swiatek and No. 13 Casper Ruud; No. 12 Elena Rybakina and No. 4 Taylor Fritz; No. 7 Amanda Anisimova and No. 9 Holger Rune; Belinda Bencic and No. 3 Alexander Zverev; No. 4 Jessica Pegula and No. 15 Tommy Paul; No. 5 Mirra Andreeva and No. 14 Daniil Medvedev.
Badosa originally had sought a place in the field with Stefanos Tsitsipas, while Draper initially was going to play alongside Zheng Qinwen.
In addition to Williams-Opelka, the wild-card entrants are Emma Raducanu and No. 2 Carlos Alcaraz; No. 8 Madison Keys and No. 12 Frances Tiafoe; Olga Danilovic and No. 6 Novak Djokovic; Taylor Townsend — who made her debut at No. 1 in women’s doubles this week — and No. 7 Ben Shelton; and last year’s U.S. Open mixed doubles champions, Sara Errani and Andrea Vavassori.
It’s a group of star players that stands in stark contrast to the sort of lesser-known players and doubles specialists usually found in the mixed doubles bracket at a Grand Slam tournament. Some players were critical of the planned changes when they were announced in February, and Errani and Vavassori called the new setup a “pseudo-exhibition focused only on entertainment and show” that would shut out true doubles players.
In a bid to attract some of the sport’s biggest names, the USTA increased the prize money, switched mixed doubles from the same time as the singles and other doubles events to the week before the start of singles competition and reduced the format to first-to-four-game sets with no-ad scoring.
A total of 16 duos will be competing for the $1 million top prize; the last two wild-card pairs will be announced by the USTA later.
It is still possible that Williams will ask for, and receive, a wild-card entry for singles. Those are expected to be announced by the USTA the week of Aug. 11.
She won one match each in singles and doubles at the D.C. Open in Washington last week after not competing anywhere since the Miami Open in March 2024.
Williams owns seven Grand Slam titles in singles, 14 in women’s doubles — all won with her younger sister Serena — and two in mixed doubles.
The 6-foot-11 (2.11-meter) Opelka is a 27-year-old American who used to be ranked in the top 20 and is now No. 74 after missing nearly two full seasons because of injuries.
Among the partnerships the USTA had said were hoping to get into the tournament that were not on Tuesday’s list: Katie Boulter and Alex de Minaur, who are engaged to be married; Jasmine Paolini and Lorenzo Musetti; Aryna Sabalenka and Grigor Dimitrov; Naomi Osaka and Nick Kyrgios; Karolina Muchova and Andrey Rublev; Iva Jovic and Jenson Brooksby; Gaby Dabrowski and Felix Auger-Aliassime; Demi Schuurs and Tallon Griekspoor; Katerina Siniakova and Marcelo Arevalo; Desirae Krawczyk and Evan King; and Su-Wei Hsieh and Jan Zielinski.