Serena and Venus Williams Set for US Open Doubles Rematch
NEW YORK – Serena and Venus Williams are back on the US Open doubles stage, and fate has wasted no time adding drama.
The Williams sisters will open their women’s doubles campaign against Maya Joint and Hao-Ching Chan, the United States Tennis Association announced, a draw line that instantly crackles with subtext. Joint is the same player who ended Serena’s Wimbledon singles comeback in the first round earlier this summer, a match that left the 44-year-old with a knee injury and forced the pair to pull out of doubles at the All England Club.
Now the rematch comes in New York, with Venus by Serena’s side and a packed Arthur Ashe or Louis Armstrong crowd likely waiting.
A Wild Card Return With History Behind It
Serena and Venus arrive in the main draw on a wild card, a familiar late-career route for two players who long ago outgrew rankings as a measure of relevance. They have lifted the US Open doubles trophy twice, yet their recent history in Flushing Meadows has been far from a victory lap.
Their last appearance here as a team came in 2022, when they exited in the first round to Linda Nosková and Lucie Hradecká. That loss felt like a closing chapter. Two legends, one more night under the lights, then the curtain.
They have refused to let that be the final word.
The sisters reunited on court again on August 17 at the Cincinnati Masters, their first doubles match together since that 2022 US Open. The rust showed, but so did the old chemistry in a tight, first-round thriller against Marta Kostyuk and Peyton Stearns. They lost, yet the match served notice: the partnership still lives, and the appetite for competition hasn’t dimmed.
Busy Summer, Same Stage
New York will mark Serena’s second appearance at the US Open this year. She teamed up with Carlos Alcaraz in mixed doubles and pushed through to the quarterfinals, a cross-generational pairing that drew heavy attention and reminded the sport how naturally she still commands the big arena.
Venus has already had her singles run here as well, falling in the first round to Sofia Kenin. The result fit the pattern of her recent singles seasons, but doubles has always offered her a different kind of canvas: shorter bursts of movement, sharper angles, and the comfort of sharing the load with the one partner she has trusted for more than two decades.
Now they return as underdogs, wild cards in every sense, but with a draw that hands them instant narrative weight. Joint and Chan are no ceremonial opponents. Joint arrives with the knowledge she has already beaten Serena this summer; Chan brings years of doubles experience and a reputation as a sharp net player.
Seeds and Stakes
At the top of the draw, Taylor Townsend and Kateřina Siniaková carry the No. 1 seed. They know the pain of coming close in New York; last year they reached the final only to fall to Gabriela Dabrowski and Erin Routliffe. This season, the defending champions have split paths but remain central to the doubles picture.
Routliffe will line up alongside Aldila Sutjiadi as the No. 9 seed, a dangerous mid-pack pairing with enough pedigree to rip through any section of the draw. Dabrowski, meanwhile, joins forces with Luisa Stefani and takes the No. 2 seed, anchoring the opposite half and setting up the possibility of a heavyweight clash deep into the fortnight.
Amid those carefully seeded contenders, the Williams sisters arrive as a wild card question mark. They are not expected to dominate the field as they once did. They are not here to fine-tune rankings or chase tour rhythm.
They are here, once more, to test themselves on the biggest stage, to revisit an old rivalry in a new form, and to see whether there is still one more run left in one of the most storied doubles teams the US Open has ever seen.
