A surprise partnership: Venus Williams joins forces with Leylah Fernandez for US Open doubles

After being eliminated in the singles draw, Venus Williams has been granted a wildcard to compete in the women's doubles draw at the US Open, where she will partner with the 2021 US Open runner-up, Leylah Fernandez. The news comes just a day after her singles run ended.

The former world No. 1 has had a busy summer on the North American hardcourt swing, competing in the DC Open, Cincinnati Open, and US Open. In addition to her four singles matches (1-3, including a victory over world No. 35 Peyton Stearns in Washington), Venus will now play in a doubles tournament again.

A few weeks ago, the 45-year-old teamed up with Hailey Baptiste for the Washington doubles, where they won their first match against Eugenie Bouchard and Clervie Ngounoue (6-3, 6-1) but lost in a close quarterfinal match to eventual champions Taylor Townsend and Shuai Zhang in a 10-point tie-break.

Williams also played in the mixed doubles event a week ago with her compatriot Reilly Opelka but was eliminated in the first round by Andrey Rublev and Karolina Muchova. Williams had a hard-fought battle against Muchova in singles on Monday, ultimately losing in three sets with a score of 6-3, 2-6, 1-6.

The doubles draw was announced on Tuesday night, with the surprising news that Venus Williams and Leylah Fernandez will team up. Fernandez is an experienced doubles player with regular Grand Slam appearances. She reached the French Open final in 2023 and the quarterfinals of Roland Garros in 2024, both times alongside Taylor Townsend.

The Canadian's best doubles ranking was No. 17 when she partnered with the American. This year, although she has continued to participate in doubles draws, it has been more sporadically, and she hasn't kept a regular partner. In fact, she has had a different partner at each of the four Grand Slams, joining forces with Nadia Kichenok (Australian Open), Yulia Putintseva (French Open), and Lulu Sun (Wimbledon), with only the first of these being a doubles specialist.

Leylah Fernandez remains in the singles draw after a triumphant debut against her compatriot Rebecca Marino in an all-Canadian clash. The 31st seed showed why she was the favorite, playing in impeccable form to defeat her colleague and friend 6-2, 6-1. The 2021 runner-up is looking to show the great level that made her a name in the tennis world four years ago on the same stage, and she will face France's Elsa Jacquemot in the second round.

Part of the legendary career that Venus Williams has built is due in part to her great success in doubles, where she routinely teamed up with her sister Serena Williams and they became one of the most iconic pairs of all time, winning a total of 14 Grand Slam titles and three Olympic gold medals together.

In addition to her seven Grand Slam singles titles—two of which were at the US Open—Williams won US Open doubles titles alongside her sister in 1999 and 2009. In fact, she won at least two of each major tournament playing with her sister, in addition to three Olympic gold medals.

The draw was more than complicated for the new doubles team of Williams (45 years old) and Fernandez (22 years old). In the first round, they will face doubles specialists Ellen Perez (ranked No. 18) and Lyudmyla Kichenok (ranked No. 15), the tournament's sixth seeds.

The Ukrainian-Australian duo started their partnership a couple of months ago during the grass-court swing, with their best results so far being a final at the Bad Homburg Open and semifinals at the Canadian Open. Kichenok, in fact, reached the US Open doubles final last year, though she played with Latvian Jelena Ostapenko at that time.