NEW YORK — Serena Williams will return to the U.S. Open for the first time in four years, joining defending men’s singles champion Carlos Alcaraz in a blockbuster mixed doubles partnership at Flushing Meadows.
The U.S. Tennis Association announced Saturday that Williams and Alcaraz had received a wild card into the 2026 U.S. Open Mixed Doubles Championship. The tournament begins Tuesday, with the first round and quarterfinals scheduled for Aug. 25 and the semifinals and final to be played Aug. 26.
The pairing brings together two of the most recognizable names in tennis: Williams, the 23-time Grand Slam singles champion and six-time U.S. Open singles winner, and Alcaraz, the Spanish star returning to defend his U.S. Open singles title after an extended absence caused by a right wrist injury.
Williams, 44, last played at the U.S. Open in 2022, when she made an emotional run to the third round in what she described at the time as an “evolution” away from tennis. Her appearance in mixed doubles is part of a competitive comeback that began this summer, but she will not compete in singles in New York.
The tournament’s decision to award the pair a wild card gives fans a rare intergenerational partnership: one player whose career has reshaped women’s tennis and another who has emerged as the leading figure of the sport’s new era.
A return to Flushing Meadows
Williams’ return will be closely watched because the U.S. Open has long been one of the defining stages of her career.
She won six U.S. Open singles titles in 1999, 2002, 2008, 2012, 2013, and 2014 and became one of the tournament’s most enduring champions. Her 1999 victory, achieved as a teenager, announced the arrival of a player who would go on to dominate women’s tennis for more than two decades.
The New York tournament also became the site of some of her most dramatic victories, difficult losses, and most memorable public moments. Its crowds have often treated Williams less as a visiting athlete than as a central figure in the event’s history.
Her last appearance at Flushing Meadows in 2022 carried unusual emotional weight. Williams, then 40, announced before the tournament that she planned to step away from professional tennis to focus on family and other pursuits. She entered as an unseeded player and defeated Danka Kovinić and then-No. 2 seed Anett Kontaveit before losing to Ajla Tomljanović in the third round.
That farewell run drew packed crowds, intense television attention, and tributes from across the sports world. It also left open the possibility that Williams’ relationship with tennis might not be completely finished.
Now, four years later, she is returning in a different format and with a different role. Mixed doubles does not carry the physical burden of a full singles draw, but it still requires high-level serving, returning, movement, and tactical awareness.
Williams’ U.S. Open comeback is not a ceremonial exhibition. The mixed doubles event is an official Grand Slam competition with a $1 million winner’s prize for the championship pair.
Why Alcaraz?
Alcaraz is an unexpected but compelling partner for Williams.
The 23-year-old Spaniard is one of the sport’s leading stars and the reigning U.S. Open men’s singles champion. His combination of athleticism, shot-making, power, and improvisation has made him a central figure in tennis’s post-Big Three era.
He had been sidelined since April with a right wrist injury but announced this week that he would return to defend his singles title in New York.
By pairing with Williams, Alcaraz will add a high-profile mixed doubles schedule to an already demanding Grand Slam campaign. The tournament’s revised format compresses mixed doubles into two days, allowing top singles players to participate without having to balance the discipline across the full two-week event.
The partnership also carries symbolic weight.
Williams is one of the most influential players in tennis history. Alcaraz represents a generation that grew up watching the sport shaped by Williams, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, and Novak Djokovic. Their pairing joins two eras that rarely meet in competition.
Alcaraz has said he was excited about the opportunity to play alongside Williams. The arrangement offers him a chance to share the court with a player whose career is central to modern tennis history.
For Williams, Alcaraz provides a partner with elite court coverage, serving power, and match fitness, qualities that may help balance the demands of a return after years away from Grand Slam competition.
The format also places a premium on chemistry. Mixed doubles requires quick communication, intelligent positioning, and an understanding of when to attack. Williams and Alcaraz have not previously played together in a major event, so their ability to establish that rhythm quickly will be part of the intrigue.
The new mixed doubles format
The U.S. Open has redesigned its mixed doubles competition for 2026, creating a shorter, star-oriented event that begins before the main singles draws are fully underway.
The format is intended to encourage leading singles players to enter mixed doubles, a discipline that has often struggled to attract the sport’s biggest names because of scheduling pressures and the physical demands of a Grand Slam tournament.
Qualifying is scheduled for Monday, Aug. 24, with eight teams competing for two final places in the main draw. The first round and quarterfinals will follow on Tuesday, Aug. 25. The semifinals and championship match will take place Wednesday, Aug. 26.
The compressed schedule gives the event a more concentrated profile. It also creates an opportunity for fans to see star pairings in a short period, turning mixed doubles into an early-week attraction rather than an event that unfolds gradually in the background of singles competition.
Williams and Alcaraz are among three final wild-card entries announced for the draw.
The USTA has also assembled a field filled with prominent names, including defending champions Sara Errani and Andrea Vavassori; Aryna Sabalenka and Novak Djokovic; Jessica Pegula and Taylor Fritz; Iga Swiatek and Casper Ruud; and Taylor Townsend and Alexander Zverev.
Other wild-card teams include Leylah Fernandez and Frances Tiafoe, Elina Svitolina and Gael Monfils, Alexandra Eala and Felix Auger-Aliassime, Jakub Mensik and Karolina Muchova, Emma Navarro and Tommy Paul.
The lineup gives the tournament a rare concentration of Grand Slam champions, current top players, and popular international figures.
Williams will not play singles.
The USTA had held one women’s singles wild card in recent weeks, leading to speculation that it might be reserved for Williams.
But the tournament announced Saturday that the final women’s wild card would go to Sofia Kenin, the 2020 Australian Open champion. Williams is therefore not expected to enter the U.S. Open singles draw.
That decision provides some clarity about the scale of her return.
A singles campaign would require Williams to compete in best-of-three-set matches over as many as seven rounds, with potentially demanding physical recovery between matches. Mixed doubles offers a more focused, manageable way to return to Grand Slam play.
Williams has competed in three doubles events in the past two months and returned to singles competition at Wimbledon this summer, according to ATP Tour reporting.
Her comeback has been measured rather than expansive. She has not committed publicly to a full-time schedule or suggested that she intends to pursue a long singles season. Instead, she appears to be choosing events and formats that fit her current goals.
The U.S. Open partnership with Alcaraz may therefore be less about a permanent return than about a particular opportunity: playing at a tournament that has defined her career with a player who represents tennis’s future.
Williams’ doubles history
Although Williams is best known for her singles achievements, she also has an exceptional doubles record.
She won 14 women’s doubles Grand Slam titles with her older sister, Venus Williams. The sisters captured two U.S. Open women’s doubles titles, in 1999 and 2009, and became one of the most successful pairings in tennis history.
Williams also won the U.S. Open mixed doubles title in 1998 alongside Max Mirnyi.
That experience matters. Mixed doubles requires different instincts from singles: players must protect the middle of the court, react quickly at the net, use serve placement strategically, and coordinate constantly with a partner.
Williams has the serve and return game to thrive in the format. Her ability to put pressure on opponents immediately could be especially valuable in the shortened matches likely to define the event.
Alcaraz, meanwhile, has the creativity and court speed to play an aggressive, flexible role. His all-court game may be well suited to mixed doubles, where quick exchanges and net play are often decisive.
The biggest unknown is timing. Neither player has built a long-term doubles partnership with the other, and the tournament gives them little time to develop routines before facing experienced teams.
What it means for the U.S. Open
For the U.S. Open, Williams’ return is a major event.
The tournament has spent years positioning itself as tennis’s most energetic and entertainment-driven Grand Slam. New York crowds embrace celebrity, dramatic night matches, and crossover moments that can attract viewers beyond the sport’s core audience.
A Williams-Alcaraz team offers all of those things.
Their first match is likely to be one of the most sought-after tickets of the opening week. Television broadcasters will have a high-profile storyline, and the USTA will have a showcase for its redesigned mixed doubles format.
The pairing may also help revive interest in mixed doubles more broadly. The discipline often produces inventive, high-quality tennis but receives less attention than singles. Bringing stars into the draw gives it a larger platform.
Critics of the revised format may argue that it favors celebrity over traditional doubles specialists. Supporters will say it creates a rare chance to watch the sport’s biggest names collaborate in a competitive setting.
The success of the event may influence how Grand Slams think about doubles programming in future years.
The challenge ahead
Williams and Alcaraz will enter the draw as the most famous team, but not necessarily the favorite.
Experienced doubles players understand the particular geometry of the discipline: the importance of return position, reflex volleys, poaching, lobs, and coordinated movement. Singles excellence does not automatically translate into doubles titles.
Teams such as Errani and Vavassori have established chemistry and recent success in the format. Other pairings include players who have competed together in team events or who possess strong doubles instincts.
Williams and Alcaraz will need to adapt quickly.
They will also need to manage expectations. Fans may expect highlights and a deep run, but the event will be competitive and compressed. A single difficult return game or tiebreak can decide on a short match.
Yet results may not be the only measure of the partnership’s importance.
Williams’ return to the U.S. Open alongside Alcaraz is a celebration of tennis continuity. It connects a player whose career transformed the sport with one who is helping define its next chapter.
Whether they win the $1 million prize or exit early, the partnership will offer a moment that tennis fans have rarely been given: Serena Williams back under the lights of New York, sharing the court with one of the game’s brightest current stars.