The Williams sisters walked onto Arthur Ashe Stadium carrying matching pink bags, a small styling choice that turned into the moment tennis fans latched onto during a reunion 25 years in the making. Serena and Venus Williams played US Open doubles together for the first time since 2022, and the atmosphere around their first-round match matched the hype building on social media in the days before it.
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Serena and Venus Williams reunite at Arthur Ashe
Serena Williams and Venus Williams took the court Friday night for their first Grand Slam doubles match together since the 2022 US Open. The pairing drew a night-session slot for a first-round doubles match, something Arthur Ashe Stadium had rarely done before this matchup. A quarter-century after first facing each other in the 2001 US Open final, the sisters, now ages 46 and 44, showed they could still push a top team decades younger than them.
The pink bags became a talking point almost immediately, with ESPN and other outlets highlighting the matching accessory as part of the pageantry surrounding the match. The sisters have frequently arrived at doubles events with pink bags over the years. Venus stood beside her sister as they carried matching pink bags onto the court, while Serena walked out wearing a customized bomber jacket decorated with patches celebrating her US Open singles and doubles titles. The visual drew comparisons to the sisters’ earlier playing days, when their on-court style choices often became their own story alongside the tennis.
One fan’s sign inside Arthur Ashe read “Welcome to the Williams Show,” and the arena’s public address announcer told the crowd the sisters “transformed and elevated the sport” before play began. Even players outside the match noticed the buzz. The reigning men’s singles champion said watching the Williams sisters again was part of his own plan for the night.
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Serena and Venus Williams fall in three-set thriller
The sisters faced Chan Hao-ching and Maya Joint, the No. 14 seeds, in the opening round. Chan and Joint won 6-3, 6-7 (6), 7-6, with the Williams sisters blowing a 5-0 lead in the deciding 10-point tiebreak before falling short. The match ran roughly three hours, and the Arthur Ashe crowd was fully behind the American duo throughout the deciding tiebreak.
Joint and Chan pulled off three straight points to cut the deficit, then a double fault from Joint pushed the Williams sisters back in front at 6-3. Serena and Venus lost the next five points, and with Chan serving out the match at 8-7, the comeback bid ended.
The loss followed a similar script to the sisters’ return earlier in the summer. Serena and Venus had made their comeback as a pair at the Cincinnati Open in August, losing in three sets to Marta Kostyuk and Peyton Stearns, 6-2, 1-6, [10-8]. Friday’s US Open match marked their second tournament together since Serena’s return to the sport, and it snapped their run at 10 career doubles appearances together in Flushing.
Neither sister addressed reporters afterward. Serena had also skipped a mandatory press conference following her singles loss to Joint at Wimbledon earlier in the year, instead posting a statement on social media. With their doubles partnership uncertain going forward, the loss left open the question of whether Friday marked the last time tennis fans will see Serena and Venus Williams share a court.
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