NEW YORK — Venus Williams’ run at the 2025 US Open isn’t over just yet.
One day after losing a competitive three-set match to No. 11 seed Karolina Muchova in singles, the 45-year-old Williams was awarded a wild-card entry into the women’s doubles draw with 2021 US Open runner-up Leylah Fernandez on Tuesday.
On Monday night, Williams, a seven-time major champion and former world No. 1, made her 25th US Open main draw appearance — the most by any player since the Open era began — as a wild card, thrilling a capacity crowd at Arthur Ashe Stadium.
Williams, the oldest person to play singles at the US Open since 1981, made her return to pro tennis last month at the Citi Open after a 16-month absence. She defeated Peyton Stearns, then ranked No. 35 in the world, to become the second-oldest woman to win a tour-level singles match.
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Williams also played at the Cincinnati Open earlier this month and in the US Open mixed doubles tournament last week with Reilly Opelka, losing in the first round.
Williams told reporters she was “very proud” of how she played against Muchova, and said she was pleased with the progress she had made in a short amount of time. However, she had said she wasn’t planning on entering any other tournaments this season, as she didn’t want to play outside of the United States.
“Can someone move a tournament here? I don’t know that I’m willing to travel that far at this stage in my career to go play,” she said Monday night. “I love playing. The level of my game has come up so much since D.C. I tried as hard as I could to throw off any rust, but at the end of the day, there’s only so much that can really be accomplished in three or four matches.”
Williams, who won 14 Grand Slam doubles titles and three Olympic gold medals alongside sister Serena, will now play with Fernandez, a 22-year-old from Canada, for the first time. They face the sixth-seeded pair of Lyudmyla Kichenok and Ellen Perez in the first round.
Other duos receiving wild cards include Americans Hailey Baptiste, Williams’ doubles partner in Washington, D.C., and Whitney Osuigwe, and the team of Clervie Ngounoue and Iva Jovic.
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