Serena Williams Returns to the U.S. Open Today—With Carlos Alcaraz and $1 Million in Play
Serena Williams is returning to the U.S. Open on Tuesday for her first match at Flushing Meadows since 2022—and she is doing it beside the defending men’s singles champion.
Williams will partner with Carlos Alcaraz in the tournament’s mixed-doubles championship, a condensed, star-heavy event carrying a $1 million prize for the winning team. Their opening match against Erin Routliffe and Lloyd Glasspool is scheduled for Tuesday afternoon at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center.
The pairing was confirmed by the U.S. Open after organizers awarded them a wild card. The Associated Press and Reuters also confirmed the return.
Williams is back—but not in singles
Williams, now 44, is not entered in the U.S. Open singles draw. Her mixed-doubles appearance nevertheless gives New York fans another opportunity to see one of tennis’s greatest champions compete at the tournament where she became a global star.
She owns six U.S. Open women’s singles titles, two women’s doubles championships with her sister Venus and the 1998 mixed-doubles championship with Max Mirnyi. Her 23 Grand Slam singles titles are the most by any woman in the Open Era.
Williams initially stepped away from professional tennis following the 2022 U.S. Open. She returned to competition earlier this year, including a Wimbledon singles appearance and a Cincinnati doubles match alongside Venus.
A blockbuster partner returning from injury
Alcaraz brings his own comeback story to the partnership. The Spanish star is returning after a four-month absence caused by a wrist injury that kept him out of the French Open, Wimbledon and the Cincinnati Open.
He has won the U.S. Open men’s singles title twice, including the 2025 championship, and is preparing to defend that crown when the main singles draw begins Sunday.
That makes the mixed-doubles event more than an exhibition. It offers Alcaraz live match play before his title defense while giving Williams a highly anticipated return to Arthur Ashe Stadium.
Their opening opponents earned their place
Williams and Alcaraz will face New Zealand’s Routliffe and Britain’s Glasspool. Routliffe is one half of the reigning U.S. Open women’s doubles championship team, while she and Glasspool advanced through Monday’s qualifying tournament.
That experience makes the opening match a genuine competitive test. Williams and Alcaraz possess enormous singles credentials, but mixed doubles demands quick communication, coordinated positioning and comfort around the net.
A faster format with a $1 million reward
The reworked mixed-doubles championship is designed to fit into two days before the main singles tournament. The first round and quarterfinals are scheduled for Tuesday, followed by the semifinals and final Wednesday night.
Early-round matches use shorter sets to four games, no-ad scoring and a 10-point match tiebreak instead of a full third set. The final uses traditional six-game sets but retains no-ad scoring and the match tiebreak.
The winning pair will split $1 million—five times the mixed-doubles champions’ prize before the event was redesigned in 2025.
A field loaded with major champions
Williams and Alcaraz are not the only headline pairing. Aryna Sabalenka and Novak Djokovic are teaming together, while other combinations include Jessica Pegula with Taylor Fritz and the defending champions, Sara Errani and Andrea Vavassori.
The format gives mixed doubles a dedicated spotlight instead of placing it deep inside the two-week singles schedule. It also creates unusual combinations of elite men’s and women’s players who rarely share the same side of the net.
For Williams, however, Tuesday carries a different weight. It marks her competitive return to the U.S. Open, four years after the tournament appeared to have hosted her farewell.
