Venus Williams to Team Up with Riley Opelka for US Open Mixed Doubles
Veteran American tennis star Venus Williams will partner Riley Opelka in the mixed doubles event at the US Open, after receiving a wildcard entry for the season’s final Grand Slam tournament at Flushing Meadows.
The 45-year-old Williams, who made her return to competitive tennis following a 16-month break, featured last week at the DC Open. She may also apply for a wildcard in the singles category at the upcoming hardcourt major.
Williams defeated fellow American Peyton Stearns 6-3, 6-4 in the opening round of the WTA event in Washington. The win marked her 819th career WTA singles victory, achieved in 97 minutes, during the first US Open Series event on American soil.
This was Williams’ first singles win on the WTA Tour in more than 700 days. Her previous victory came in August 2023, when she defeated Veronika Kudermetova in the opening round at Cincinnati.
With this result, Williams became the oldest WTA match winner since Martina Navratilova, who won a match at Wimbledon in 2004 at the age of 47. She also became the oldest player to compete in a WTA main draw match since Japan’s Kimiko Date, who played in Tokyo in 2017 at age 46.
However, her run at the DC Open ended in the second round, where she lost to Magdalena Frech in straight sets, 6-2, 6-2.
For the US Open mixed doubles field, eight pairs qualified directly based on combined singles rankings. Among them are world number one Jannik Sinner of Italy — the reigning US Open, Wimbledon, and Australian Open singles champion — who will partner with American Emma Navarro.
Other direct entrants include:
- Jack Draper (UK, World No. 5) and Paula Badosa (Spain)
- Alexander Zverev (Germany, World No. 3) and Belinda Bencic (Switzerland)
- Taylor Fritz (USA, World No. 4) and Elena Rybakina (Kazakhstan)
- Holger Rune (Denmark) and Amanda Anisimova (USA)
- Daniil Medvedev (Russia, 2021 US Open champion) and Mirra Andreeva (Russia)
- Jessica Pegula and Tommy Paul (both USA)
- Iga Swiatek (Poland) and Casper Ruud (Norway)
Among the wildcard entries, the list includes several high-profile pairings. These include:
- Spain’s five-time Grand Slam singles champion and world number two Carlos Alcaraz with Britain’s Emma Raducanu
- Americans Madison Keys and Frances Tiafoe
- Women’s doubles world number one Taylor Townsend with Ben Shelton
- Italians Sara Errani and Andrea Vavassori
- Serbians Olga Danilovic and Novak Djokovic, the men’s all-time Grand Slam record-holder with 24 major singles titles.
