The United States Tennis Association announced seven of eight women’s wild cards for the US Open on Tuesday, leaving one spot as to be announced in what appears to be a deliberate pause to allow Serena Williams to decide whether she will play singles at Flushing Meadows.
The pattern mirrors what Wimbledon did earlier this summer, when the All England Club also withheld its final women’s selection while waiting for Serena to determine whether she felt ready to compete. She ultimately accepted a Wimbledon entry, lost in the first round to Maya Joint and then suffered a knee injury that forced her withdrawal from the doubles draw, where she had been scheduled to play alongside her sister Venus.
On Monday night at the Cincinnati Open, Serena played competitive tennis for the first time since that Wimbledon defeat, more than six weeks ago. She and Venus Williams fell in the first round of doubles to Marta Kostyuk and Peyton Stearns, their first time playing together since the 2022 US Open. The sisters are expected to also enter doubles at the upcoming tournament.
Serena, 44, returned to competitive tennis earlier this summer after a nearly four-year absence. The 23-time Grand Slam champion had initially played only doubles before accepting the Wimbledon singles wild card. With singles qualifying beginning Monday in New York, she will likely need to decide in the coming days whether she is fit enough to play.
The women’s wild cards announced
The seven women’s picks named on Tuesday are Venus Williams, Sloane Stephens, Carol Young Suh Lee, Reese Brantmeier and Thea Frodin as American picks, with Leolia Jeanjean and Taylah Preston receiving reciprocal entries through the USTA’s existing agreements with the French and Australian tennis federations.
Venus’s inclusion is notable. She has been playing doubles with Serena during the comeback and competed at Wimbledon, where she was also given an entry. Stephens, a former US Open champion, built her legacy at the tournament she won in 2017.
The men’s wild cards announced
The USTA also released seven of eight men’s wild card recipients on Tuesday. Michael Zheng, the reigning two-time NCAA men’s singles champion, and Gael Monfils, the former world No. 6 semifinalist who is retiring at the end of this season, headline the group. Martin Damm, J.J. Wolf, Sebastian Gorzny, Jack Kennedy and Alexei Popyrin, through a reciprocal arrangement with Tennis Australia, round out the seven named.
The eighth men’s spot is also listed as to be announced. Stan Wawrinka, the 2016 US Open champion who is retiring this year, was not among those named but could receive the final entry.
Monfils’s inclusion continues a farewell tour that has included some memorable moments, among them a second-round upset of Carlos Alcaraz at Cincinnati in 2024 and an emotional standing ovation from the Cincinnati crowd Monday night when he lost his final appearance at that tournament.
What the open spots signal
The strategic withholding of the final position on both draws suggests the USTA is managing the possibility of Serena’s singles entry carefully. A Serena singles confirmation would be one of the most anticipated announcements of the tournament’s lead-up, given the cultural weight of a Serena appearance at the venue where she won six of her 23 Grand Slam titles.
The US Open main draw begins Aug. 25.
