Serena Williams will return to the U.S. Open, playing mixed doubles with Carlos Alcaraz

Serena Williams will team up with Carlos Alcaraz to create a powerhouse mixed doubles pair in her return to the U.S. Open.

The U.S. Tennis Association announced Saturday that Williams and Alcaraz had been given a wild card into the tournament. The mixed doubles main draw begins Tuesday.

It will be Williams’ first time playing at the U.S. Open since 2022. The 23-time Grand Slam singles champion returned to tennis this summer.

She has not said yet if she will play singles in New York, though the USTA is still holding one women’s wild card if she wants to compete. 

Williams accepted wild card invitations to play both singles and doubles at Wimbledon in June after a nearly four-year absence from the court. She played singles, losing to 20-year-old Maya Joint in the first round. She withdrew from a doubles match with her sister Venus, citing a knee injury. 

Williams did play doubles with Venus at the Cincinnati Open earlier this month. The Cincinnati event marked their first doubles match since 2022, when they lost to Czech pair Lucie Hradecka and Linda Noskova. 

Alcaraz announced this week that he would return to defend his U.S. Open singles title after being sidelined since April with a right wrist injury. In February, he became the youngest man to ever complete a career Grand Slam after beating Novak Djokovic at the Australian Open.