Serena and Venus Williams' Doubles Loss Sparks Wild Card Debate at US Open

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Serena and Venus Williams' Doubles Loss Sparks Wild Card Debate at US Open
Photo: Sky Sports
sports· A press review of 5 outlets

  1. Serena, Venus return to doubles, lose thriller Serena and Venus Williams played their first doubles match together since the 2022 U.S. Open and lost a thriller, 2-6, 6-1 (10-8) to Marta Kostyuk and Peyton Stearns on Monday night at the Cincinnati Open.

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    Sky Sports

    Tuesday 18 August 2026 06:38, UK Serena and Venus Williams were narrowly beaten in their first doubles match together in four years during a dramatic first-round tie-break exit at the Cincinnati Open.

  2. Tuesday 18 August 2026 18:36, UK Venus Williams has been given a wild card into the US Open singles draw, and the tournament is keeping one on hold - perhaps in case her sister Serena wants to join her.

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    BBC Sport

    Published Venus Williams has been given a wildcard for the US Open singles - and sister Serena could potentially still join her with one spot remaining.

    NDTV Sports

    Venus Williams Gets US Open Singles Wild Card, Chatter Over Serena Continues Serena Williams (L) and Venus Williams

  3. The sisters planned to play at Wimbledon but had to withdraw after Serena injured her knee in her singles match. That marked her first time playing singles since the 2022 US Open, and she indicated afterwards that she hoped to keep competing if healthy.

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    BBC Sport

    The sisters were due to play doubles together at SW19 but withdrew after Serena, 44, injured her knee in her first-round loss to Maya Joint.

From the margins

3 details only one outlet reported

Independent claims that didn't surface elsewhere in our corpus. Treat as supplementary — not corroborated across outlets.

  1. 01 Sky Sports

    Sloane Stephens, the 2017 US Open champion, was one of six other women to receive a wild card, and the US Tennis Association said the final one is still to be announced.

  2. 02 BBC Sport

    Venus, 46, first played in New York 29 years ago and reached the final on her singles debut in 1997.

  3. 03 Fox Sports

    John Cena - WWE News, Rumors, & Updates - foxsports.com John Cena - WWE News, Rumors, & Updates  foxsports.com

Assembled from 3 corroborated claims drawn from 5 independent outlets. Every passage above is taken verbatim — Dorothy doesn't paraphrase or summarize.

Fact Corroboration

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Coverage by Region

US
3
UK
3
India
1

Source Similarity

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Sources (5)

  • espn
  • skysports
  • foxsports
  • bbc-sport
  • ndtv-sports

Original Articles (7)

US Serena, Venus return to doubles, lose thriller — ESPN
UK Venus Williams given US Open wild card - with another held potentially for Serena — Sky Sports
UK Williams sisters lose tie-break thriller in first doubles reunion since 2022 — Sky Sports
UK Venus Williams given US Open singles wildcard - will Serena join her? — BBC Sport
US John Cena - WWE News, Rumors, & Updates - foxsports.com — Fox Sports
US Venus Williams News - Tennis Highlights, Rumors, & Updates - FOX Sports — Fox Sports
India Venus Williams Gets US Open Singles Wild Card, Chatter Over Serena Continues — NDTV Sports