Former champs Stephens, Venus Williams in first batch of US Open wild cards

Two former US Open champions, Sloane Stephens and Venus Williams, are among the first batch of 2026 main-draw wild cards announced on Tuesday. Seven out of the eight have been awarded, with one remaining to be announced.

Stephens, the 2017 champion who was sidelined by a right foot stress fracture for seven months in 2025, has raised her ranking from No. 1,098 at the start of the season to No. 240 this week. The 33-year-old successfully qualified for both the Australian Open and Roland Garros, and made the second round of both Memphis and Toronto over the past month. This week in Cincinnati, Stephens has made the third round so far, upsetting Anastasia Potapova for her first Top 30 win since Madrid 2024.

Williams, the 2000-01 champion, will be competing in her 26th US Open main draw at the age of 46. The former World No. 1 became the oldest player to win a tour-level match since Martina Navratilova in 2004 when she defeated Peyton Stearns in Washington last year; now ranked No. 621, she will be bidding to snap a 14-match losing streak.

The remaining five wild cards have been awarded to:

• Carol Young Suh Lee, the US Open Wild Card Challenge winner. The 24-year-old Georgia Tech University graduate won the most hard-court points of any American player between the weeks of July 13 and August 9, qualifying for her first WTA main draw in Prague and making the second round, then winning her first WTA 125 title in Warsaw. Those results have lifted the Northern Mariana Islands-born Lee to a career high of No. 140.
• Reese Brantmeier, the American Collegiate Player Wild Card Playoff winner. The 21-year-old was the NCAA singles champion last year, and has lifted her ranking to No. 421 after winning the Wichita W35 and making the Sumter W100 final this year. Brantmeier made her WTA main-draw debut in Memphis last month.
• Thea Frodin, the USTA Girls' 18s National Champion. The 17-year-old is a former junior No. 11, having been the 2025 Wimbledon girls' doubles runner-up (with Julieta Pareja) and a girls' singles semifinalist at this year's Australian Open. Frodin defeated Pareja 7-6(2), 7-6(4) in the USTA Girls' 18s semifinals and Janae Preston 6-1, 6-0 in the final to seal her wild card. At professional level, she has compiled an 18-10 record in 2026, highlighted by a run to the Arcadia W35 final in February.
• World No. 101 Taylah Preston, the reciprocal Tennis Australia wild card recipient. The 20-year-old reached her first WTA semifinal in Hobart in January, upsetting Emma Raducanu en route, and won her first WTA 125 title in Vancouver last month.
• World No. 117 Leolia Jeanjean, the reciprocal FFT wild card. Former No. 91 Jeanjean, 31, reached her first WTA quarterfinal at Bogota 2025.

Eight out of nine qualifying wild cards have also been awarded to home players:

• No. 242 Katrina Scott, the American Collegiate Player Wild Card Playoff runner-up. Scott, 22, currently plays for the University of Tennessee; she made the second round of the US Open in 2020 and reached a career high of No. 149 in 2022.
• No. 246 Caroline Dolehide. The 27-year-old former No. 41 is a two-time WTA finalist (Guadalajara 2023 and Guangzhou 2024) whose ranking has slipped due to injury this year. Her best US Open performance to date is a second-round showing in 2024.
• No. 266 Ayana Akli. The 25-year-old made the final round of qualifying last year, and reached her first W75 final last month in Lexington.
• No. 290 Julieta Pareja. The 17-year-old became the first 2009-born player to reach a WTA semifinal at Bogota 2025, and was also the Wimbledon junior runner-up that year. In 2026, Pareja has won two W50 tournaments in Chihuahua and Columbus.
• No. 307 Savannah Broadus. The 23-year-old was the 2019 Wimbledon girls' doubles champion with Abigail Forbes, and a former college player for Pepperdine University. Broadus has raised her ranking from No. 965 at the start of the season after compiling a 33-14 record, including the Guimaraes W50 title and a run to the Cary W100 final.
• Twin sisters Annika and Kristina Penickova, 16, the 2025 Australian Open girls' doubles champions. Annika is ranked No. 571 after compiling a nine-match winning streak in July and August to win the Florence W35 and make the Southaven W35 final; she will be making her US Open qualifying debut. Kristina, who was also the 2025 Australian Open girls' singles runner-up and the Wimbledon girls' doubles champion with Vendula Valdmannova, is ranked No. 750, and will be competing in her third US Open qualifying competition.
• No. 820 Janae Preston, the USTA Girls' 18s National runner-up. The 16-year-old was a girls' semifinalist at Wimbledon this year, and made her first professional final at an Orlando W15 in April.

The final qualifying wild card will be earned by the winner of the US Open Qualifying Wild Card Challenge, a four-player event that will take place on August 23. A quartet of teenage up-and-comers will battle for a place in their first professional Grand Slam event -- 16-year-olds Jordyn Hazelitt and Welles Newman, and 17-year-olds Chukwumelije Clarke and Kennedy Drenser-Hagmann.