Venus Williams to play in US Open as mixed doubles wild card

New Delhi: American tennis star Venus Williams will participate in the upcoming US Open as a mixed doubles wild card, it was announced on Tuesday. Venus would enter the redesigned mixed doubles tournament with fellow American partner Reilly Opelka through a wild-card entry. 45-year-old Venus returned to tennis tour last week after being more than an year away.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Tennis Association announced 14 teams on July 29 and both Williams and her partner featured in that. The mixed doubles event is scheduled to take play on  August 19 and 20. Among the total 14 teams, six were given wild card entries by the USTA while eight pairs received a direct entry into the field based on their combined singles rankings.

Among the direct entrants, the players with spots in the bracket included nine who have clinched at least one Grand Slam singles title and 14 who were ranked in the WTA or ATP top for singles. The eight pairs with direct entry in the US Open mixed doubles are No. 11 Emma Navarro and No. 1 Jannik Sinner; No. 10 Paula Badosa and No. 5 Jack Draper; No. 3 Iga Swiatek and No. 13 Casper Ruud; No. 12 Elena Rybakina and No. 4 Taylor Fritz; No. 7 Amanda Anisimova and No. 9 Holger Rune.

Belinda Bencic and No. 3 Alexander Zverev; No. 4 Jessica Pegula and No. 15 Tommy Paul; No. 5 Mirra Andreeva and No. 14 Daniil Medvedev also feature in the list of direct entrants. Badosa had originally been placed in the field with none other than Stefanos Tsitsipas, while Draper was set play the doubles along side Zheng Qinwen.

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Apart from the Williams-Opelka pair, the wild-card entrants feature the names of Emma Raducanu and No. 2 Carlos Alcaraz; No. 8 Madison Keys and Frances Tiafoe; Olga Danilovic and No. 6 Novak Djokovic; Taylor Townsend and No. 7 Ben Shelton; and last year's U.S. Open mixed doubles champions, Sara Errani and Andrea Vavassori.