(New York) At 43, Venus Williams will return to the US Open while Caroline Wozniacki will make a Grand Slam return.
Both players received tournament passes from the United States Tennis Association (USTA) on Wednesday.
Williams won the US Open in 2000 and 2001, two of her seven major singles titles. A year after her younger sister Serena retired after the tournament, Venus will return to Flushing Meadows, where she reached the final on her debut in 1997.
Venus recently returned to competition after missing nearly six months of activity due to injury. This week, she scored her first victory in four years against a top-20 player, beating Veronika Kudermetova in the first round of the Cincinnati tournament.
Wozniacki announced in June that she was returning to competition, three years after retiring to start a family. The USTA then said she would be given a bye to the U.S. Open, where she was a two-time finalist. The Danish and former number one in the world obtained a first victory on her return to the game last week, in Montreal.
Americans Ashlyn Krueger, Robin Montgomery, Kayla Day and Clervie Ngounoue will also receive a bye to the main draw, as will France’s Fiona Ferro and Australia’s Storm Hunter, under reciprocal agreements with their tennis federations .
John Isner, who has reached the quarter-finals of the tournament on two occasions, received a bye and will be making his 17th appearance in the main draw. Fellow Americans Alex Michelsen, Michael Mmoh, Steve Johnson, Ethan Quinn and Learner Tien also earned a bye, as did Frenchman Benjamin Bonzi and Australian Rinky Hijikata.
Main draw play begins on August 28.
