Serena Williams to play mixed doubles with Carlos Alcaraz at U.S. Open

NEW: Serena Williams to play mixed doubles with defending champion Carlos Alcaraz at the U. S. Open after receiving a wildcard, her first competitive match at the tournament since 2022.

Serena Williams is playing the U. S. Open again, at forty four, with Carlos Alcaraz.

Tournament organisers handed the pair a wildcard into the mixed doubles on Saturday. That's the defending men's champion teaming up with a woman who has twenty three Grand Slam singles titles and six U. S. Open trophies of her own. Her first competitive match at Flushing Meadows since 2022, and get this, she actually won this event back in 1998, with Max Mirnyi. Alcaraz was born five years after that.

And the rest of the draw isn't messing about either. Aryna Sabalenka, the world number one, partners Novak Djokovic. Jessica Pegula pairs with Taylor Fritz. This is an exhibition disguised as a bracket.

One caution before anyone gets carried away. Serena and Venus lost in the first round at Cincinnati this month. But honestly, sell out Arthur Ashe for a woman who retired four years ago and came back anyway. That's the whole point of sport.

This is Liu Yang, reporting for HIT.