Venus Williams Receives Wild Card to Play at the 2025 US Open
Venus Williams, with her seven Grand Slam titles in singles, 14 in doubles with tennis icon who happens to be her younger sister Serena, as well as two wins in mixed doubles, plus a record five Olympic tennis medals, is back on the professional tennis tour with a wild card for the 2025 US Open.
At 45, the tennis prodigy will be returning to Fresh Meadows next week for her first Grand Slam competition in two years.
According to AP News, Williams received a wild-card entry for singles from the U.S. Tennis Association on Wednesday — she will be the oldest player in that event in New York since Renee Richards was 47 in 1981 — after earlier getting one for mixed doubles.
Most recently, the tennis phenom won her first tournament, becoming the second oldest woman to take home a tour-level singles win at the Mubadala Citi DC Open.
The seven-time Grand Slam Champion shared this after that match, reports BET:
“Each week that I was training, I was like, 'Oh, my God, I don't know if I'm good enough yet.' And then there would be weeks where I would leap forward," Williams explained.
"And there would be two weeks where I was like, 'Oh, God, it's not happening.' Even the week leading up, [I thought], 'Oh, my gosh, I need to improve so much more.' So it's all a head game."
At the US Open, Venus will also play in the Aug. 19-20 mixed doubles tournament with Reilly Opelka, a 27-year-old American who used to be ranked in the top 20.
The 2025 US Open Singles Main Draw starts Sunday, Aug. 24 and goes until Sunday, Sept. 7, at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing, N.Y.
