Serena Williams makes spectacular return to US Open as she teams up with Carlos Alcaraz in mixed power pairing… four years after stepping back from tennis at the Grand Slam

Serena Williams made an emotional return to Flushing Meadows on Tuesday when she teamed up with Spanish sensation Carlos Alcaraz in the US Open’s mixed doubles event.

The tennis icon, 44, continued her comeback tour, returning to the Grand Slam where she bowed out of the sport four years ago.

Williams announced that she would be ‘evolving away’ from tennis following the 2022 US Open. But, after returning to tennis’s major stages at Wimbledon and the Cincinnati Open earlier this year, she stepped into the spotlight on Arthur Ashe once again.

The US Tennis Association announced on Saturday that Williams and Alcaraz, 23, had been handed a wild card for the year’s final Grand Slam.

The pair were granted entry into the star-studded 16-team field competing for a $1million prize, sealing a stunning return to the US Open for Williams.

will be the 44-year-old’s first time playing at the US Open since 2022. The 23-time Grand Slam singles champion returned to tennis earlier this summer.

But she is not planning to play singles in New York. The USTA had been holding one women’s wild card – presumably in case Williams wanted it. On Saturday, however, organizers announced it had gone to American Sofia Kenin , the 2020 Australian Open champion.

Williams played singles at Wimbledon, losing in the first round and sustaining a knee injury, before teaming up with older sister Venus to play doubles at the Cincinnati Open. In their first match together since the 2022 US Open, the sisters were beaten by Peyton Stearns and Marta Kostyuk, 6-2, 1-6, 10-8.

Serena Williams has won a US Open mixed doubles title before, taking the crown in 1998 alongside Max Mirnyi, who now works with Aryna Sabalenka . Nearly three decades on, the competition is now a star-studded, two-day competition, with Sabalenka and Novak Djokovic among the other big names taking part this year.

Alcaraz, meanwhile, announced this week he would return to defend his US Open singles title after being sidelined since April with a right wrist injury.

News of his comeback – and his partnership with Williams – is a huge boost for fans after rival Jannik Sinner pulled out.

The world No 1 announced on Friday that he will miss the US Open with a knee injury.

In a statement on social media, the Italian wrote: ‘Even though I have been working hard with my team and my medical staff, we have now had to make the difficult decision that I will not be able to compete at the US Open this year.

We have been back on court in Monte Carlo over the last couple of days and have realised that I still need more time to recover from my right knee issue.

‘I’m obviously very sad and disappointed, as New York has a special place in my heart. I was very much looking forward to coming back and playing in the electric atmosphere in front of the great fans there.’

Sinner turned pro in 2018 and has never missed a Grand Slam tournament in his entire career, winning five in total – including the US Open two years ago and Wimbledon this summer.

The 25-year-old has been dominant so far in 2026, winning the first five ATP Masters 1000 events, two of which in the US in Indian Wells and Miami.

After crashing out of Wimbledon in the first round and suffering a similar fate alongside sister Venus in the women’s doubles in Cincinnati, many have questioned if Williams still possesses her titan talent.

Others may be more focused on the question mark over one particular detail of her preparation -whether Williams has continued to use GLP-1 jabs managed by telehealth company Ro, of which she became a vocal paid spokesperson for last year.

Williams, who is said to have lost close to two and a half stone, or 34 pounds (15kg) using the drug, previously called her challenge to lose weight following the birth of her two children ‘the one opponent (she) couldn’t beat’.

It remains unclear as to whether Williams has continued to use the drug, which also treats symptoms of diabetes, with her publicist declining to comment when asked by the Atlantic.

But although GLP-1s are not banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), they are one of the drugs under ongoing investigation as to whether they might be classed as performance-enhancing in the future.