MELBOURNE — Seven-time Grand Slam singles champion Venus Williams will play in her 22nd Australian Open next month after being awarded a wild-card entry to the 2023 tournament.
The 42-year-old American, twice a finalist at Melbourne Park, is ranked outside the top 1,000 and has not played a competitive match since the 2022 US Open. She lost in the first round in singles to unseeded Alison Van Uytvanck of Belgium and then paired with sister Serena for the doubles competition as a wild-card entry. The sisters lost 7-6 (5), 6-4 to the Czech duo of Lucie Hradecka and Linda Noskova in the first round.
“I’ve been competing in the country for over 20 years now and the Australian community has always supported me wholeheartedly,” Williams said in a statement Monday. “It will be an honour to play for the fans again and I’m looking forward to making more memories at the tournament this year.”
While Serena in August had announced her plans to “evolve” away from tennis to focus on off-the-court interests and ventures — and was given a star-studded farewell at the US Open — the elder Williams sister publicly revealed no such plans.
“Right now I’m just focused on the doubles,” Venus Williams told reporters following her first-round singles match at Flushing Meadows when asked about her future in the sport.
Williams has lost her last six matches on the WTA Tour since reaching the second round at Wimbledon in 2021. She owns a career 54-21 singles record at the Australian Open.
Information from Reuters and ESPN’s D’Arcy Maine was included in this report.
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