Serena, Venus Williams accept Cincinnati doubles wild card

Serena Williams will reunite with sister Venus Williams in doubles at the Cincinnati Open after the pair received a main-draw wild card. Venus also earned a singles main-draw wild card into the WTA 1000 event.

For Serena, Cincinnati will mark the latest stop in her return to competition after nearly four years away from the tour. The 23-time Grand Slam singles champion returned to competition for the first time since the 2022 US Open at Queen's Club in June, teaming with Victoria Mboko in doubles before making another doubles appearance in Berlin alongside Karolina Muchova.

She then returned to singles at Wimbledon, where she pushed 20-year-old Maya Joint to three sets before falling in the opening round.

The Williams sisters had hoped to reunite in doubles at Wimbledon before Serena withdrew because of a knee injury. Cincinnati will mark their first match together since the 2022 US Open. Together, Serena and Venus have won 14 Grand Slam doubles titles and three Olympic gold medals.

Venus has taken a different path, competing selectively throughout 2026. She opened her season at the Australian Open before making appearances at Indian Wells and Miami. Most recently, the seven-time Grand Slam singles champion returned to the WTA Tour at the Mubadala Citi DC Open, where she faced Anastasia Potapova in singles and reached the doubles quarterfinals alongside Diana Shnaider.

Also receiving Cincinnati singles wild cards are Sloane Stephens, Taylor Townsend, Darja Vidmanova, Elvina Kalieva, Caroline Dolehide and Lois Boisson. 

Bianca Andreescu, Akasha Urhobo, Carol Young Suh Lee, Jeline Vandromme and Robin Montgomery were awarded qualifying wild cards.

The Cincinnati Open runs from Aug. 13-23.