Venus Williams is returning to the US Open after receiving a wild card entry on Wednesday, which is perfect timing as this could potentially be the last tournament before her sister, Serena Williams, retires.
The seven-time Grand Slam champion\has been out for a significant amount of time, including last year's US Open due to injury. For the first time in almost a year, she returned to competing in singles earlier this month during the Citi Open, where she fell to Rebecca Marino in the first round. After that defeat, Williams admitted there is definitely some rust in her game after her long absence.
"Just trying to shake off some rust. That's just to be expected," she said during the press conference. "All I can do is just play another tournament and play better."
She has also played in the Canadian Open and the Western and Southern Open since her return, but has yet to get past the first round in singles competition.
This will be the 42-year-old's 23rd appearance at the US Open. The former world No. 1 won the competition back-to-back in 2000 and 2001. In 2018, the Williams sisters competed against each other in the third round of the tournament, with Serena coming out on top in straight sets.
Although Serena Williams didn't specify that the US Open will be her last tournament, she implied that her time in tennis is coming to an end sooner rather than later when she made her retirement announcement earlier this month.
"I'm gonna relish these next few weeks," she wrote.
The 142nd edition of the US Open -- the fourth and final Grand Slam event of the year -- is set to take place from Aug. 29 to Sept. 11 in New York. Other past major champions that received a wild card include 2020 US Open winner Dominic Thiem, and 2020 Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin.
