Serena Williams and Carlos Alcaraz have been handed a wildcard into the US Open mixed doubles main draw, putting one of the sport’s most watched names back into the event that will be played from 24-26 August. Williams, who won the title in 1998, will team with Alcaraz in a competition that has been pushed into the spotlight again as the US Open schedule for the week before the singles draw takes shape.
The pairing matters now because Williams is back in tennis after four years away, has played three doubles matches since returning in June, and is coming off a doubles loss with Venus at the Cincinnati Open on Monday in her first match since injuring her knee at Wimbledon. She also fell in three sets to Maya Joint in her singles comeback at Wimbledon, and she will not play singles in New York City after the final wildcard place went to Sofia Kenin. Alcaraz, meanwhile, is set to play for the first time in over four months following a wrist injury.
The revamped format is built around singles names. Top six pairs by combined singles ranking earned direct entry, while another eight pairs were given wildcards, with the competition finishing four days before the singles draw begins. That structure has left Sara Errani and Andrea Vavassori as the only doubles specialist pairing to receive a main-draw wildcard, a detail that has not gone unnoticed among players who argued the change would tilt the event away from doubles expertise. Henry Patten and Katerina Siniakova must go through an eight-team qualifying round instead.
For Williams, the wildcard keeps her in a draw she once won and gives the event another headline. For the tournament, it confirms the strategy behind the revamp: bring in names that draw attention, even if the entry list leaves the old balance of the format looking changed for good. The remaining question is how far this new mixed doubles model can go before the singles draw takes over the conversation again.
