Serena Williams returned to Arthur Ashe Stadium 1,453 days after a match that had appeared to mark the end of her career, pairing with Carlos Alcaraz in the reimagined mixed doubles competition. The partnership advanced past their first-round matchup but fell to Belinda Bencic and Flavio Cobolli in the quarter-finals, ending their run after just two matches on 25 August.
Williams, the 44-year-old American, emerged from the tunnel at half past three to roars from more than 10,000 spectators inside Arthur Ashe Stadium. As she and Alcaraz warmed up in matching purple-and-black Nike kits, public-address announcer Andy Taylor recited her career achievements to mounting applause. Together they carried 30 grand slam singles titles, a record for any mixed-doubles team at a major championship.
The mixed doubles event was compressed into a two-day schedule, with opening rounds and quarter-finals contested on 25 August and the semi-finals and final on 26 August. Though the tournament remained officially in qualifying week, crowds had already swelled to main-draw proportions. The boardwalk from the Mets-Willets Point subway station to the Billie Jean King National Center resembled the middle weekend of a typical tournament. The No 7 train discharged bursts of fans every few minutes. Vendors pushed enormous coolers through the throng, offering cold water and canned soda. Jehovah's Witnesses positioned themselves beside literature carts.
The Open had arrived a week early, and Serena had returned. Alcaraz, sidelined by a wrist injury in the spring, wore a white sleeve and appeared rusty, double-faulting on the opening point. The pair surrendered three of the first four games but recovered to win eight of the final nine games, defeating the British-New Zealand combination of Lloyd Glasspool and Erin Routliffe 5-3, 4-1.
"I never expected to be back on this court," Williams said after the first match. "I never thought this would happen."
That momentum dissipated during the quick turnaround to the quarter-final. Bencic and Cobolli ended their campaign 5-4 (4), 4-1 in a match lasting 55 minutes. Yet Williams demonstrated she was far from a nostalgia act, attacking the net and anticipating points a stroke ahead of her opponents. She even served the opening game of the quarter-final ahead of Alcaraz—an uncommon occurrence in mixed doubles. When the match concluded, Williams may have reconsidered her decision to decline the singles wildcard that organizers had reserved for her before awarding it to Sofia Kenin.
The USTA announced Williams and Alcaraz as a wildcard pairing on 21 August, marking a significant addition to a field that also featured high-profile teams including Sabalenka and Djokovic, Pegula and Fritz, Swiatek and Ruud, and Errani and Vavassori. This pairing represented Williams' continued competitive return; she had previously triumphed in doubles at Queen's Club in June after a 1,375-day absence and had narrowly lost in a thrilling Wimbledon singles match in late June.
How did the revamped format shape the tournament?
The redesigned mixed doubles championship offered unprecedented star power, shortened matches and sudden eliminations. Last year's overhaul repositioned mixed doubles as a standalone event before the singles draw, reduced the field to 16 teams and increased the top prize to $1 million, prioritizing singles stars over the concerns of doubles specialists. Early rounds employ four-game sets, no-ad scoring and a 10-point decider, with only Wednesday's final reverting to six-game sets. The event was set to air on ESPN2 and ESPN, with quarter-final day beginning at 10 a.m. ET and the championship match scheduled for Wednesday night.
Williams and Alcaraz were not the sole star pairing undone by the format's compressed structure. Top seeds Novak Djokovic and his partner fell in the opening match on Ashe to Katerina Siniakova and Henry Patten, who subsequently lost to the married couple Elina Svitolina and Gaël Monfils.
Who advanced to the final?
Svitolina and Monfils edged their opponents 5-4 (6), 4-5 (3), 10-8, then kissed and embraced. Both have reached deep runs in singles here without claiming the title. In Monfils' final grand slam before retirement, they stand two victories away from a trophy and a seven-figure prize when the event concludes on Wednesday night.
"Happy wife, happy life," Monfils said.
The revamped event delivered maximum attention for minimal physical toll, and Williams provided both. Her tenure was brief, yet sufficient to establish that the US Open had genuinely commenced ahead of schedule.
