Serena Williams will join forces with Carlos Alcaraz to form a formidable mixed doubles team as she makes her comeback at the U.S. Open. The U.S. Tennis Association revealed on Saturday that Williams and Alcaraz secured a wild card entry into the tournament’s mixed doubles main draw, which kicks off on Tuesday with a prize of $1 million US for the victorious duo.
This marks Williams’ first appearance at the U.S. Open since 2022. The 23-time Grand Slam singles champion made her tennis comeback earlier this summer. Alcaraz expressed his excitement by posting on X, adding a fire emoji and tagging Williams.
While Williams won’t compete in singles at the event, she was initially considered for a women’s wild card spot by the USTA. However, the spot was awarded to American Sofia Kenin, the 2020 Australian Open winner. Williams recently returned to the court at Wimbledon but suffered a knee injury during her first-round singles match. She later played doubles with her sister Venus at the Cincinnati Open, and they might choose to pair up at the U.S. Open.
Alcaraz, the two-time U.S. Open men’s champion ranked No. 2, confirmed his return to defend his U.S. Open singles title after recovering from a right wrist injury that had sidelined him since April.
Before clinching any of her six singles titles at the U.S. Open, Serena Williams had already triumphed in the mixed doubles category in 1998 alongside Max Mirnyi. The USTA revamped the mixed doubles tournament last year into a two-day, 16-team event aimed at attracting top singles players, a change from its previous format.
The USTA also issued several updates to the tournament field due to player withdrawals. American duo Jessica Pegula and Taylor Fritz will pair up following injuries to their original partners, Jack Draper and Elena Rybakina. Additionally, the teams of Emma Navarro and Tommy Paul, as well as Karolina Muchova and Jakub Mensik, received the final two wild card entries into the main draw.
Furthermore, Diana Shnaider will stay in the competition and have the opportunity to find a new partner following Daniil Medvedev’s withdrawal. The current mixed doubles field includes top players like Sabalenka, Djokovic, Swiatek, Ruud, Bencic, and more, with the remaining spots to be determined through an eight-team qualifying tournament. Wild cards were granted to Mirra Andreeva and Andrey Rublev, along with Peyton Stearns and Christian Harrison, to complete the qualifying field.
