Serena Williams and Carlos Alcaraz are teaming up next week at the U.S. Open.’
The star-studded duo will play in the Mixed Doubles event running Tuesday-Wednesday at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center.
Williams and Alcaraz will play their first match on Tuesday with a time TBD. Also on Tuesday, 20-time major champion Roger Federer will play an exhibition with Andy Roddick, Andre Agassi and john McEnroe
Williams, 44, will not play singles in the women’s draw, as Sofia Kenin, the 2020 Australian Open champion, received the final singles Wild Card.
Williams has won 23 Grand Slam singles titles, including six at the U.S. Open. She last singles played at the Open in 2022, losing a third-round singles match to Ajla Tomljanović 7-5, 6-7(4), 6-1. At the time, she said she was “evolving away from tennis” to focus on her family.
Her older sister, Venus, was already granted a Wild Card into this year’s singles draw. It remains unclear if the sisters will also play doubles together at the Open.
Serena made her return to the singles court at Wimbledon after nearly four years off, losing in the first round to Australia’s Maya Joint 6-3, 6-7(6), 6-3 in the first round.
Alcaraz confirmed on social media Thursday that he will defend his singles title after missing four months with a wrist injury.
The Mixed Doubles field is headlined by world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka, the defending singles champion, and 24-time major champion Novak Djokovic.
Rising women’s star Alex Eala and Felix Auger-Aliassime, spouses Elina Svitolina and Gael Monfils, and two-time defending champions Sara Errani and Andrea Vavassori were given wild cards into the tournament.
Following withdrawals by their previous teammates Jack Draper and Elena Rybakina, respectively, Jessica Pegula and Taylor Fritz have re-paired as a team.
The first round and quarterfinals will be played Aug. 25, with the semifinals and final set for Aug. 26. All of the matches will be played either in Arthur Ashe Stadium or Louis Armstrong Stadium, the two biggest venues.
Three remaining wild-card spots are still to be announced, and the final two teams in the two-day main draw will earn their way in through an eight-team qualifying tournament to be played Aug. 24.
(The AP contributed reporting.)
Read the full article here