As the world prepares to bid farewell to one of tennis’ greatest players Serena Williams, the US Tennis Association has included sister Venus to ensure the spectacle is even more Grand.
After announcing her shock retirement just under a week ago, Serena enters her final major tournament with her sister in the coming days, as she looks to claim her 6th US Open title.
Venus, who won back-to-back US Opens in 2000 and 2001 recently returned to action at Wimbledon after spending ten months on the sideline due to an injury.
The 42-year-old is currently unranked and hasn’t made it past the second round in her last four tournaments since coming back to tennis.
Although Venus has not given any indication that she will step away from the game permanently, it seems likely that her retirement will come soon after her sister’s.
In this week’s Cincinnati Masters, both Williams sisters were defeated in the first round, with Serena going down to 19-year-old young-gun Emma Raducanu as Venus fell to 2016 champion Karolina Pliskova.
With just ten days to go until the first serve in New York, Serena and Venus will have their work cut out to run deep into the tournament. But it’s possible the home crowd support extends the celebrations further than it might’ve off shore.
