Seven-time Grand Slam winner becomes the oldest US Open singles player since 1981 with a wild card entry

Venus Williams will return to Grand Slam tennis later this month after being awarded a wild card into the US Open women’s singles draw at the age of 45. The seven-time major champion will be the oldest singles entrant at the tournament since Renee Richards competed at Flushing Meadows in 1981, aged 47.

The US Tennis Association confirmed the decision, which follows Williams’ already securing a wild card for next week’s mixed doubles competition. The singles event begins on August 24 and will be broadcast live on Sky Sports Tennis and Sky Sports+.

Williams, who won the US Open in 2000 and 2001, has not played in a Grand Slam since 2023, when she exited in the first round at Flushing Meadows. Her last singles win at the tournament came in 2019. Over her career, she has collected 14 women’s doubles titles — all alongside her sister Serena — and two mixed doubles majors in addition to her singles triumphs.

Serena Williams retired in 2022 with 23 Grand Slam singles trophies, leaving Venus as the last active major champion from their era.

This comeback follows a challenging period for Williams, who underwent surgery last year to remove uterine fibroids and missed most of the 2024 season. She returned to competitive tennis at the Mubadala Citi DC Open in July after a 16-month break, winning a doubles match with Hailey Baptiste and becoming the oldest woman to win a tour-level singles match since Martina Navratilova in 2004.

Speaking after her DC Open return, Williams kept her future plans open-ended. “I’m just here for now, and who knows?” she said at the time. “Maybe there’s more, but at the moment, I’m focused just on this. I haven’t played in a year. There’s no doubt I can play tennis, but obviously, coming back to play matches, it takes time to get in the swing of things. I definitely feel I’ll play well; I’m still the same player. I’m a big hitter; I hit big. This is my brand.”

Williams also competed at the Cincinnati Open earlier this month via a wild card, though she lost in the first round. Despite that setback, her presence at the US Open adds a high-profile storyline to this year’s draw.

Before the singles competition, Williams will team up with 27-year-old Reilly Opelka in the US Open’s mixed doubles event on August 19-20. Opelka, a former world No. 17, will be making his own return to the major stage following injury troubles.

Williams’ entry as the oldest player in the singles field evokes comparisons to Renee Richards’ landmark 1981 appearance, both for its rarity and the physical demands involved. While some question whether she can mount a deep run after such limited match play, her power-based style and competitive experience remain potential weapons against younger opponents.

For Williams, the US Open wild card is more than a nod to her past achievements — it’s a chance to prove that age and adversity have not diminished her appetite for the sport’s biggest stages. Whether this marks the beginning of a full-time return or a final farewell remains to be seen, but one thing is certain: her presence in New York will be one of the most closely watched stories of the tournament.