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 on 25 August, ending their run after just two matches. About 15,000 spectators packed the stadium to witness the headline pairing, which combined 30 Grand Slam singles titles—a record for any mixed-doubles team at a major championship.
Williams, the 44-year-old American, emerged from the tunnel at half past three to roars from the crowd. 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. 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 represented Williams' continued competitive return after a four-year absence from her home slam. 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 pair perform in their opening match?
Williams and Alcaraz defeated the British-New Zealand combination of Lloyd Glasspool and Erin Routliffe 5-3, 4-1 in their first-round encounter. Alcaraz, sidelined by a wrist injury since April, wore a white compression 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, demonstrating improved chemistry as the match progressed.
After the victory, Alcaraz reflected on the experience of partnering with Williams. "I'm playing next to the one and only Serena Williams, so what else can I do? Just enjoy and try to do the things she told me to do," he said. He also acknowledged his nerves before stepping on court: "I think everyone could see I was really nervous, I double-faulted on the first point. I was out for almost five months and I almost forgot how it feels stepping out on the court once again. It took just a couple of games to settle and she made it very easy for me to enjoy it and try to go for it."
Williams played with competitive intensity throughout, 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. After the first match, Williams expressed her emotion at returning to the venue. "I never expected to be back on this court," she said. "I never thought this would happen. It's always amazing to be here. It was just a really cool moment."
What happened in the quarter-final?
Bencic and Cobolli ended Williams and Alcaraz's campaign 5-4 (7-4), 4-1 in a match lasting 55 minutes. Alcaraz appeared increasingly rusty in the quarter-final, and the Italian-Swiss pairing won convincingly. Despite the loss, Williams demonstrated she remained far from a nostalgia act, though the quick turnaround from their opening match may have affected their performance. 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.
How did the revamped format shape the tournament?
The redesigned mixed doubles championship offered unprecedented star power, shortened matches and sudden eliminations. 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. 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 the 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.
The controversial format pitted established doubles players against some of the sport's biggest singles stars. Established doubles players such as Glasspool and Henry Patten had to come through two qualifying rounds on Monday, while top-ranked singles players and wildcards entered directly into the main draw. All four doubles specialist pairings lost to teams of singles players on 25 August, demonstrating the format's advantage for elite singles competitors.
Williams and Alcaraz were not the sole star pairing undone by the format's compressed structure. Top seeds Novak Djokovic and Aryna Sabalenka fell in the opening match on Ashe to Katerina Siniakova and Henry Patten in just 49 minutes, 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 26 August.
"Happy wife, happy life," Monfils said.
Discussing their dynamic, Monfils reflected on their partnership: "I'm a big fan of her game and mentality. Sometimes I think she's ice and I'm the fire. We needed to find the balance. We did today."
The other semi-final will see Russians Mirra Andreeva and Andrey Rublev face Czech pair Karolina Muchova and Jakub Mensik. With none of the four doubles pairs making it to the last four, the USTA achieved the sort of semi-final line-up it envisaged when deciding to reinvent the mixed doubles 12 months ago.
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. For Alcaraz, the match provided valuable court time as he works his way back to full fitness following his wrist injury, though it did not definitively indicate his chances of remaining in New York for the singles final in just under three weeks.
Key Facts
- Williams and Alcaraz combined for 30 Grand Slam singles titles, a record for any mixed-doubles team at a major championship
- The mixed doubles event ran on a compressed two-day schedule with opening rounds and quarter-finals on 25 August and semi-finals and final on 26 August
- All four doubles specialist pairings lost on 25 August, with top seeds Djokovic and Sabalenka eliminated in 49 minutes
- Williams returned to the US Open for the first time since 2022 after a four-year absence from competitive tennis
- Alcaraz competed in his first match since April after recovering from a right wrist injury
