Williams Sisters’ Emotional US Open Return Ends One Point Short
For three hours inside a roaring Arthur Ashe Stadium, it looked like Serena and Venus Williams might turn back the clock one more time. In the end, their long-awaited return to Grand Slam doubles fell agonizingly short, as the sisters blew a 5-0 lead in a deciding tiebreak to lose their first-round match 6-3, 6-7(6), 7-6(7) to Maya Joint and Chan Hao-Ching.
A Quarter-Century in the Making
This marked the Williams sisters’ first Grand Slam doubles appearance together since the 2022 US Open, and their first at Flushing Meadows since winning the title there in 2009. At 46 and 44 years old respectively, Venus and Serena took the court against opponents roughly half their combined age, in front of a capacity crowd clearly desperate to see one more chapter of their storied partnership.
A Match That Had Everything
Joint and Chan controlled much of the first set, but the Williams sisters responded by forcing a second-set tiebreak, which they won to level the match and send the crowd into a frenzy. The decisive third set swung back and forth before reaching a 10-point deciding tiebreak โ and that’s where the sisters produced their most dramatic moment of the night, racing out to a stunning 5-0 lead.
From there, though, Joint and Chan mounted a remarkable comeback of their own, winning ten of the next twelve points to steal the match away and advance to the second round.
Respect on Both Sides
Despite the result, both teams walked away with credit. Maya Joint, the 20-year-old Australian who also beat Serena in singles at Wimbledon earlier this year, spoke afterward about the surreal experience of competing against two players she grew up idolizing, in front of a crowd fully behind her opponents. For their part, Serena and Venus reportedly walked off smiling despite the heartbreak, a fitting note for two players who have nothing left to prove in the sport.
The Bigger Picture
Even in defeat, the numbers behind this rivalry remain almost unmatched: 14 Grand Slam doubles titles together, three Olympic gold medals, and a combined 30 Grand Slam singles titles between them. A first-round exit doesn’t change what the Williams sisters mean to tennis โ if anything, a three-hour classic like this one is a reminder of exactly why fans still show up in force whenever their names are on the schedule.
GUZ SPORT will have more US Open coverage as the tournament continues.
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