NEW YORK: Serena and Venus Williams are getting their Sister Act back together for doubles at the US Open.
The American siblings, who have won two of their 14 women’s doubles Grand Slam titles at Flushing Meadows, were given a wild-card entry by the US Tennis Association on Saturday, making it their first tournament as a team in more than four years.
Serena announced this month that she is preparing to end her playing career and, while she did not explicitly say the US Open would be her final event, she has indicated it will be.
Serena, who turns 41 next month, and Venus, who turned 42 in June, won women’s doubles championships at the US Open in 1999 — the year Serena won her first major singles trophy at age 17 in New York — and 2009.
Their other Grand Slam triumphs in doubles: six at Wimbledon, four at the Australian Open and two at the French Open. The most recent came at the All England Club in 2016.
They’ve also won three doubles gold medals at the Olympics.
That’s all aside from their combined total of 30 major trophies in singles — 23 for Serena, and seven for Venus.
The sisters have not competed anywhere in doubles as a pairing since losing in the third round of the French Open in June 2018.
Since then, each Williams has entered two doubles events with other partners.
For Serena, one was with Caroline Wozniacki in January 2020, and the other with Ons Jabeur this June — that came in Eastbourne, England, in a grass-court tune-up ahead of Wimbledon. That marked Serena’s return to competition after nearly a full year away from the tour.
She has gone 1-3 in singles in 2022, including a first-round loss at Wimbledon in June, and said less than three weeks ago that “the countdown has begun” to the close of her time as a professional player so she can focus on having another child and on her business interests.
For Venus, the first doubles event since 2018 was with Harriet Dart in June 2019, and the other was with American teenager Coco Gauff at last year’s French Open. In singles, Venus was off the tour for nearly a year until returning at a tournament in Washington this month.
Other women’s doubles teams receiving wild cards from the USTA on Saturday were Sophie Chang and Angela Kulikov, Robin Montgomery and CoCo. Vandeweghe, Katrina Scott and Elizabeth Mandlik, Peyton Stearns and Ashlyn Krueger, Hailey Baptiste and Whitney Osuigwe, and Clervie Ngounoue and Reese Brantmeier.
Men’s doubles wild cards went to Brandon Holt — who qualified in singles on Friday and whose mother, Tracy Austin, won singles titles at the US Open in 1979 and 1981 — and Govind Nanda, NCAA champion Ben Shelton and Chris Eubanks, Nicholas Monroe and Keegan Smith, Max Schnur and Hunter Reese, Alex Michelsen and Sebastian Gorzny, Robert Galloway and Alex Lawson, and Nicholas Godsick and Ethan Quinn.
Serena, Venus Williams get US Open doubles wild-card entry
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Serena, Venus Williams get US Open doubles wild-card entry
- The American siblings were given a wild-card entry by the US Tennis Association on Saturday, making it their first tournament as a team in more than four years
- Their other Grand Slam triumphs in doubles: six at Wimbledon, four at the Australian Open and two at the French Open
Chelsea paid for costly errors in Arsenal defeat, says Rosenior
LONDON: Liam Rosenior admitted Chelsea paid the price for costly mistakes after Arsenal took advantage of his side’s blunders to win 3-2 in the League Cup semifinal first leg on Wednesday.
Rosenior’s team face a tough task to set up a final against either Manchester City or Newcastle following their error-strewn display in their new manager’s first home match.
Chelsea were guilty of sloppy marking for Ben White’s early headed opener before goalkeeper Robert Sanchez gifted striker Viktor Gyokeres Arsenal’s second goal after half-time.
Alejandro Garnacho got one back for Chelsea but Martin Zubimendi then netted for Arsenal after more lacklustre defending from Rosenior’s men.
Substitute Garnacho’s second goal gave Chelsea a glimmer of hope heading into the second leg at the Emirates Stadium in February.
“Disappointed to concede from a corner. Disappointed with the third goal as well because we were right back in the game and we were on top at that moment,” Rosenior said.
“We switched off from a restart from a central free-kick but I can’t fault the players.
“We need to make sure we perform well individually and we don’t concede as many goals.”
Rosenior was without a host of key players, including Cole Palmer, Reece James and Liam Delap, due to injuries and illness.
‘It’s another step’
In his second game since replacing Enzo Maresca as Blues boss, the 41-year-old took heart from the way Chelsea kept fighting to find a way back into the tie.
“We’ve had illness in the squad, we’ve picked up a few knocks this week but what the squad has shown is that they are willing to run and fight for each other,” he said.
Rosenior, who oversaw a 5-1 FA Cup third-round win at Charlton in his debut last weekend, refused to condemn Sanchez for the latest in a long line of shaky performances.
“Rob’s a very good goalkeeper. He made an outstanding save at 3-1 to keep us in the tie, so for me load of things to improve but the overall attitude of the team I liked,” Rosenior said.
“Hopefully, we get a few bodies back for Brentford on Saturday.”
Arsenal are now unbeaten in 10 games in all competitions as they moved a step closer to their first silverware since the 2020 FA Cup.
The Gunners had lost their previous four semifinals across a variety of competitions, including the League Cup last year.
Mikel Arteta was impressed with Arsenal’s ability to subdue Chelsea for long periods, but he was left to rue their failure to kill off their London rivals.
“I have to praise the players for the performance against a really good opponents. It’s a really tough place to come. That’s why I really value what the team has done again,” Arteta said.
“We had two massive chances to score the fourth one and the result would have been very different. At that moment they created a chance and scored a goal. So it is a very different feeling. It’s game on.”
As well as leading the Premier League, Arsenal are also still chasing Champions League and FA Cup glory.
But after so many last-four failures in the recent past, Arteta won’t take anything for granted.
“It’s another step. It’s just half-time. We know the big fight we are going to have at the Emirates in a few weeks because they are a top side,” he said.
“What we’re doing every three days is impressive.”
