{
  "id": 3526992,
  "title": "Williams sisters given US Open doubles wildcard",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/26/williams-sisters-given-us-open-doubles-wildcard",
  "topic": "culture",
  "section": "Culture",
  "published": "2026-08-26T14:38:54.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "BBC Sport",
    "slug": "bbc-sport",
    "url": "https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/tennis/articles/c1l1r7p1ggeo?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=rss"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Serena and Venus Williams have been granted wildcard entries to compete as a doubles team at the US Open, marking their first Grand Slam pairing together in four years. The American tennis icons, who have each won two women's doubles titles at New York's US Open, previously teamed up in 2022 at the US Open, which was Serena's final tournament before she retired from singles play. Serena made her comeback in doubles at Wimbledon in June, but was forced to withdraw from the women's doubles after sustaining a knee injury. Venus, 46, has been sporadically playing singles and doubles on the WTA Tour in recent years. The duo reconnected at the Cincinnati Open in August, losing to Marta Kostyuk and Peyton Stearns in three sets. Serena is set to play in the US Open mixed doubles competition alongside Carlos Alcaraz, but lost in the quarter-finals. Venus also received a wildcard for the singles, which begins on Sunday, August 30. The sisters have a combined total of 14 major doubles titles, with their most recent victory at Wimbledon in 2016. This will be their third appearance together at a Grand Slam since 2016, following their partnership at the 2018 French Open and 2019 US Open. They won their second consecutive Grand Slam doubles title together in New York in 1999 and repeated the feat ten years later. The sisters have never lost a major doubles final together. Venus and Canada's Leylah Fernandez reached the quarter-finals of the women's doubles at the US Open last year, falling to top seeds Katerina Siniakova and Taylor Townsend.",
  "summary": "Serena and Venus Williams will play doubles together at the US Open in their first Grand Slam outing as a pairing for four years.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 2,
    "also_reported_by": [
      {
        "outlet": "BBC Sport",
        "title": "Williams and Alcaraz team up at US Open",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/26/williams-and-alcaraz-team-up-at-us-open",
        "published": "2026-08-26T09:05:34.000Z"
      }
    ]
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}