Serena and Venus Williams returned to US Open doubles action on Friday, 4 September 2026, playing their first-round match together at Flushing Meadows after receiving a wildcard into the women’s draw.
The pair were handed a wildcard entry into the 2026 women’s doubles competition, as reported by usopen.org, the tournament’s official website. It marked only their second tournament as a pair since Serena returned to competitive tennis earlier in 2026.
Why the Serena and Venus Williams US Open doubles return drew attention
Serena Williams had retired from competitive tennis after the 2022 US Open, and her decision to play again in 2026 reopened a partnership that produced 14 Grand Slam doubles titles.
Between them, the sisters also collected 30 Grand Slam singles titles across their careers.
The reunion carried weight beyond the scoreline. Much of the sisters’ doubles record was built at Grand Slam level, and the appearance placed two of the sport’s most recognisable figures on the same side of the net at a major again, rather than in exhibition conditions.
They returned in matching outfits, a visual echo of the partnership that carried them through the early years of their careers. That pairing delivered doubles titles at each of the four majors, which is why the entry was treated as an event in itself rather than as routine first-round business.
Who the sisters faced in the US Open doubles draw
Serena and Venus Williams played their opening match on Friday, 4 September 2026, at 19:00 United States Eastern Time (01:00 SAST on Saturday, 5 September 2026). They were drawn against the 14th seeds, Chan Hao-ching and Maya Joint.
A wildcard is an entry granted by tournament organisers to a player or pair outside the automatic qualifying cut, usually on the strength of profile, history or local interest.
Without one, entry would have depended on a combined doubles ranking accumulated through regular competition.
The seeding gap framed the tie. Chan and Joint arrived as one of the higher-ranked pairings in the draw, while the Williams sisters entered on the wildcard rather than through the rankings.
Joint had already beaten Serena Williams at Wimbledon, winning their singles first-round meeting on Tuesday, 30 June 2026, in the American’s comeback match.
The match also fell inside a tournament already producing storylines away from the doubles courts, including Novak Djokovic’s pursuit of a 25th Grand Slam singles title in New York.
Against that backdrop, the sisters’ reunion travelled well beyond a tennis audience.
What comes next for Serena and Venus Williams
Their run depended on the first-round result, with the winners moving into a second round that ran through the closing week of the tournament.
Whether the sisters entered further events together after the US Open had not been confirmed, and neither player had spoken publicly about a schedule beyond it.
