Venus Williams isn't done pursuing an Australian Open title.
The WTA announced Sunday that the legend will participate in 2023's first Grand Slam tournament as a main-draw wild card. It will be her 22nd appearance in the tournament since she made her debut in 1998.
"I am very excited to be returning to Melbourne to compete at the Australian Open in January," Williams said.
"I've been competing in the country for over 20 years now, and the Australian community has always supported me wholeheartedly. It will be an honor to play for the fans again, and I'm looking forward to making more memories at the tournament this year."
There was a time when the world's former No. 1 player was a threat to win any event she entered, but she played just four tournaments in 2022. That lack of playing time means she is currently ranked 1,007th.
Yet there is no doubting Williams' stature as one of the sport's most notable legends.
The American is a seven-time Grand Slam champion with five of the titles coming at Wimbledon and two coming at the U.S. Open. While she is yet to win the Australian Open, she reached the final in 2003 and again 14 years later in 2017.
She has also been to the quarterfinals or better nine different times.
Venus lost to her sister in each of the two finals she made, although she won't have to worry about such a result this time around since Serena is now retired.
Next year's tournament is set to start on Jan. 16 at Melbourne Park.
Venus Williams celebrated the 28th anniversary of her first professional tennis match with an Instagram post Monday night.
"On this day 28 years ago I made my debut to professional tennis. I never imagined 28 years later what [Serena Williams] and I would experience in this sport," Williams wrote. "I can recount the wins and the losses, but in the end it was always about the pursuit of my best self. Everyday, win, lose or draw. I can look back with no regrets. It's all been worth it."
Coco Gauff was one of many who responded to Williams' post, calling her "Queen."
ESPN's D'Arcy Maine noted the comments "raised speculation that her legendary career could be nearing an end."
Williams' schedule has been reduced in recent years, including just one appearance over the last five Grand Slam tournaments, and she didn't make her 2022 debut until August during the lead up to the U.S. Open.
She played both singles and doubles in New York, losing in the opening round of both events. She lost to Alison Van Uytvanck in singles and teamed with her sister, Serena, in a loss to the Czech Republic tandem of Lucie Hradecká and Linda Nosková in doubles.
The U.S. Open was treated as a going away party for Serena, who'd hinted toward retirement during the weeks leading up to the season's final major tournament.
Instead, the 23-time Grand Slam singles champion said last week she expects to return.
"I am not retired," Serena told reporters. "The chances [of a return] are very high. You can come to my house, I have a court."
Likewise, Venus' post Monday took on a reflective tone about her Hall of Fame career but stopped short of saying her playing days were over.
Venus' career resume includes 23 Grand Slam titles (seven singles, 14 doubles and two mixed doubles), four Olympic gold medals (one singles and three doubles) and a total of 73 tournament titles across the three disciplines.
Her most recent title came at Wimbledon in 2016, when she teamed with Serena to win the doubles championship.
If Venus opts to continue her career, the first Grand Slam event of 2023 is the Australian Open beginning Jan. 16. She would need to qualify or receive a wild card for the tournament.
Tennis fans may not have seen the last of Serena Williams.
"I'm not retired," she said at the TechCrunch Disrupt conference last week.
She added: "The chances are very high [of playing again]. You come to my house, I've got a court."
The tennis legend penned her "farewell to tennis" in an August essay for Vogue but stopped short of calling it a retirement, instead describing it as "evolving away from tennis."
A professional athlete, especially one who has reached the heights Williams has, can never know what retirement feels like until they experience it. In addition, sports is littered with stars who walked away only to discover they weren't ready to call it quits.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady is the most recent example. His NFL retirement in February lasted just 40 days.
The full effect is only beginning to settle in for Williams. She said at the TechCrunch conference that it's "very weird" to not have any official matches to prepare for.
"It was like the first day of the rest of my life, and so far, I am enjoying it," she said. "But I'm still trying to find that balance.”
The real test of the 41-year-old's resolve will come when the 2023 Australian Open rolls around and life after tennis truly begins. How much will she find herself wanting to get back on the court for meaningful action?
Reaching the third round of the U.S. Open and upsetting second-seeded Anett Kontaveit might have left her believing she has something left in the tank. Even though her career has extended well past the point at which other legends have continued, maybe she can make one last run to a Grand Slam final.
Serena's days as a full-time player are over, but getting her back for a handful of big events would be music to the ears of fans.
The International Tennis Integrity Agency announced Friday that former top-ranked tennis player Simona Halep has received a provisional suspension after testing positive for a prohibited substance, Roxadustat, during the 2022 U.S. Open.
Halep is "ineligible to compete in or attend any sanctioned tennis events organized by the governing bodies of the sport" while suspended.
She released a statement on Twitter following the ITIA's announcement:
Halep suffered an upset loss to Ukrainian qualifier Daria Snigur in the first round of the U.S. Open in late August. It marked her earliest exit in a Grand Slam event since the 2018 U.S. Open.
The 31-year-old Romanian announced in mid-September she wouldn't compete for the remainder of the 2022 season while recovering from nose surgery. She'd been in contention to earn a spot in the WTA Tour Finals before the procedure.
She's No. 9 in the WTA rankings and finished with the No. 1 ranking after both the 2017 and 2018 seasons.
Halep is also a two-time major champion, having won the 2018 French Open and 2019 Wimbledon championships, and she's captured a total of 24 WTA singles titles.
Roxadustat is a medication that received initial approval in 2019 for "treatment of anaemia in patients with dialysis-dependent chronic kidney disease." It's been shown to increase endogenous erythropoietin production and hemoglobin levels while also improving iron availability.
The ITIA said the drug was found in both Halep's "A" and "B" samples taken at the U.S. Open. She was first informed of the positive test Oct. 7.
A duration for her suspension wasn't immediately announced.
The 2023 WTA Tour schedule is scheduled to begin in early January with the Brisbane International tournament. The year's first major, the Australian Open, is set to get underway Jan. 16.
Any tennis fan with a cool million and change to spare will have the opportunity to own a house with a very famous place in the sport's history.
According to TMZ Sports, the childhood home of Serena and Venus Williams in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, is going up for auction in late September. The house has four bedrooms, two-and-a-half bathrooms and two tennis courts on a 10-plus-acre lot and is estimated to be worth approximately $1.42 million.
The Williams sisters lived there with their father, Richard, who helped them learn the game of tennis as they grew older. Their journey was chronicled in the movie King Richard, and they went on to become two of the greatest players in tennis history.
Serena Williams has been the focus of the tennis world of late after she wrote in Vogue in August that she was "evolving away from tennis, toward other things that are important to me."
However, she pointed to Tom Brady's decision to retire and then unretire during an appearance on Good Morning America and suggested her tennis career may not be done.
"I mean, you never know," she said (h/t ESPN). "I've just been saying that I think Tom Brady started a really cool trend."
Being the house where a 23-time Grand Slam champion honed her game before her legendary career took off is quite the selling point as it approaches the auction block.
Iga Świątek came to the 2022 U.S. Open as the No. 1 seed in the women's singles tournament, aiming to win the event for the first time. Now, the 21-year-old from Poland is one win away from doing just that.
Świątek will take on No. 5-seeded Ons Jabeur in the women's singles final on Saturday at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in New York City. Neither player had previously made it past the round of 16 at the U.S. Open.
While Świątek is seeking her third career Grand Slam title—she previously won the French Open in both 2020 and 2022—Jabeur is looking to win her first. The 28-year-old from Tunisia has played in only one previous final at a major tournament, and that was in July at Wimbledon, where she was the runner-up to Elena Rybakina.
Here's everything you need to know about the Świątek-Jabeur matchup in the 2022 U.S. Open women's singles final.
Women's Singles Final Info
Date: Saturday, Sept. 10
Start Time: 4 p.m. ET
TV: ESPN
Prize Money: The winner receives $2.6 million. The runner-up receives $1.3 million.
Preview, Prediction
Although neither Świątek nor Jabeur has ever played in the U.S. Open final, the two have faced off against each other in the past. So they're going to be familiar with the opponent across from them on the court.
It's been a competitive series, too. Świątek and Jabeur have split their four previous meetings, winning two apiece. Two of those matches took place on hard courts, with each notching one victory.
Considering they were both seeded in the top five, it's not a huge surprise that both have made it to this point in the U.S. Open. That's especially the case for Świątek, who has played well throughout the year and got off to a dominant start in New York.
Świątek won each of her first three U.S. Open matches in straight sets. Her past three bouts have all gone a full three sets, but she's been playing some tough competition, including No. 8-seeded Jessica Pegula in the quarterfinals and No. 6-seeded Aryna Sabalenka in the semifinals.
After dropping the opening set against Sabalenka, Świątek rallied back for an impressive 3-6, 6-1, 6-4 victory to punch her ticket to the final. Świątek was also down 4-2 in that final set before taking the last four games to win it.
There's a good chance Świątek gets tested again in the final. Jabeur had gone to three sets in three straight matches before a strong showing in the semifinals, in which she defeated No. 17-seeded Caroline Garcia 6-1, 6-3.
Can Jabeur keep that momentum going and get off to a strong start in the final? And if so, will Świątek again be resilient enough to withstand any difficult situations she may find herself in?
“Iga never loses finals, so it’s going to be very tough,” Jabeur said, per NBC Sports' Olympic Talk. “I know she struggled a little bit with the balls here, but I don’t see her struggling much, to be honest with you. She’s playing awesome. It’s going to be a tough match. Definitely going for my revenge.”
It seems highly likely that the Świątek-Jabeur match will go three sets, and it wouldn't be surprising if Jabeur takes the first before Świątek bounces back to take the second. That will set up what should be a thrilling third set to decide the title.
While this is a match that could go either way, the prediction here is that Świątek will end up the winner. She's having a slightly better year, and she has already shown the ability to thrive in high-pressure situations this week, which will help her on this big stage.
Jabeur will eventually capture a Grand Slam title, but not Saturday. This one is going to Świątek, who will win her first major tournament on a non-clay surface.
Prediction: Świątek wins in three sets
One way or another, the U.S. Open will feature a new women's singles champion in 2022.
At Arthur Ashe Stadium in Flushing, New York, on Wednesday, Aryna Sabalenka defeated Karolina Plíšková before Iga Świątek defeated Jessica Pegula to advance to the semifinals. The Nos. 6 seed 1 seeds, respectivelly, will battle it out Thursday for a spot in Saturday's final.
The winner will take on either Caroline Garcia or Ons Jabeur. The No. 17 seed (Garcia) and No. 5 seed (Jabeur) will also face off Thursday for a spot in the championship match.
As José Morgado of Diário Record and Sport TV noted, the U.S. Open will—along with the men's division—feature four new finalists over the weekend:
Thursday's action promises to be full of entertainment as the four remaining women vie for a chance to win it all. The action will begin with Garcia and Jabeur at 7 p.m. ET.
U.S. Open Women's Semifinals
Where: Arthur Ashe Stadium in Flushing, New York
When: Thursday, Sept. 8
Time: Garcia vs. Jabeur, 7 p.m. ET; Świątek vs. Sabalenka, 8:15 p.m. ET
TV and Live Stream: ESPN, ESPN+
Caroline Garcia (17) vs Ons Jabeur (5)
This year's fourth and final Grand Slam has featured plenty of upsets, and Garcia will look to deliver another one Thursday. Getting here wasn't easy for the 28-year-old, who had lost both times she had previously faced Coco Gauff.
However, Garcia has been on a roll this season and has not lost a set in the tournament thus far. Her winning streak stands at 13 matches overall.
"The last couple of months," Garcia said, per ESPN. "I feel healthy again.''
Can Garcia advance in her first career Grand Slam semifinal appearance? Standing in her way is Tunisia's Jabeur, the Wimbledon runner-up and the first woman to represent an African nation in the U.S. Open semis in the professional era.
"It really means a lot to me," Jabeur said, per ESPN.
Jabeur is coming off a victory against Ajla Tomljanovic, who ousted Serena Williams in the third round.
Both competitors will carry momentum into Thursday's matchup, and it's going to be a hard-fought match. Expect Jabeur's experience at Wimbledon to push her into another finals appearance.
Predicted Winner: Jabeur
Iga Świątek (1) vs. Aryna Sabalenka (6)
Thursday's nightcap will be another fantastic match, though Świątek has a slight edge in Grand Slam experience. The two-time French Open champion (2020, 2022) was also a semifinalist in this year's Australian Open.
Her opponent, however, won't be an easy out by any means. The 24-year-old Belarusian has been ranked as high as No. 2 in the world (2021) and has twice made the semis at the U.S. Open (2021, 2022).
Sabalenka, a semifinalist at Wimbledon last year, wasn't allowed to compete this summer because of The Championship's ban on Russian and Belarusian players because of the invasion of Ukraine. She used the time away from competition to better prepare for this tournament.
"I had another preseason," Sabalenka said, per Marc Berman of the New York Post. "I worked really hard, and I worked a lot on my serve."
It's hard to pick against Świątek, who has made her path to the semifinals seem relatively easy. According to ESPN Stats & Information, she is the first top-seeded woman at the U.S. Open to reach the semis while dropping one or fewer sets since Williams in 2016.
Świątek has won three of her four previous meetings with Sabalenka. Expect her to make it 4-of-5 on Thursday.
Predicted Winner: Świątek
President Joe Biden congratulated Serena Williams Saturday on her long and successful career after she lost Friday in the third round at the U.S. Open to Ajla Tomljanović, 7-6, (4) 6-7, 6-1.
Williams announced earlier in August that she was planning to retire after this season.
She ends her career with a long list of achievements that includes 23 Grand Slam titles (trailing only Margaret Court's 24) and four Olympic gold medals (three in doubles, one in singles).
She is universally recognized as the greatest female tennis player of all time, arguably the greatest player the sport has ever seen, period, and one of the most important and impactful athletes of her generation.
Suffice to say, President Biden wasn't the only prominent figure who gave Serena her flowers:
Her retirement marks the end of an era. It's hard to imagine another player dominating and defining their own era quite like Williams did in hers.
Golf legend Tiger Woods gave Serena Williams the ultimate respect and reverence for her sensational career after the 23-time Grand Slam singles champion's tennis journey came to an end Friday following a third-round defeat to Ajla Tomljanović on Friday at the U.S. Open.
Woods, a 15-time major winner himself, was on hand in the second round when Williams upset No. 2 Anett Kontaveit.
Williams had previously credited Woods as the reason why she continued to play tennis professionally.
"He's one of the reasons I'm here, one of the main reasons I'm still playing," she told reporters (h/t George Ramsay of CNN).
"We talked a lot. He was really trying to get me motivated. There are a few people, but we were like: 'OK, we can do this together, you know?'"
The 40-year-old Williams fought hard to the finish before falling to a tough opponent in Tomljanovic 5-7, 7-6(4), 1-6 in a match that lasted over three hours.
With that, a 27-year career is now over, and Williams leaves the game after writing one of the most remarkable stories in sports history.
