Seven-time Grand Slam singles champion Venus Williams will return to the Australian Open in Melbourne for the primary time in 5 years. And at age 45, the event stated she is ready to develop into the oldest lady ever to compete in an Australian Open foremost draw.
Match officers stated Friday that Williams acquired a wild-card entry for the 2026 event at Melbourne Park 28 years after her first look. In 1998, the then-17-year-old defeated her youthful sister Serena Williams within the second spherical earlier than shedding within the quarterfinals to fellow American Lindsay Davenport.
“I am excited to be again in Australia and looking out ahead to competing in the course of the Australian summer season,” Williams stated. “I’ve had so many unbelievable recollections there, and I am grateful for the chance to return to a spot that has meant a lot to my profession.”
Venus Williams made an unbelievable comeback within the sport in July 2025 when she accepted a wild-card invitation to play singles on the 2025 Mubadala Citi DC Open. She grew to become the second-oldest lady to win a tour-level singles match after beating Peyton Sterns — 22 years her junior — 6-3, 6-4. It was Williams’ first singles victory in almost 2 years.
Williams then went on an electrical run on the 2025 U.S. Open when she partnered with Leylah Fernandez within the girls’s doubles event. They reached the quarterfinals, the place they misplaced to Taylor Townsend and Kateřina Siniaková.
Cory Knowlton/ISI Images/ISI Images through Getty Photographs
In November, Williams introduced that she would play in Auckland, New Zealand, the place she additionally acquired a wild card, two weeks earlier than the Australian Open. The Australian Open stated Williams was additionally entered to play a event in Hobart, Australia, per week later and simply earlier than play begins at Melbourne Park.
She final appeared in Melbourne in 2021 and has completed runner-up within the girls’s singles twice, shedding to Serena within the finals in 2003 and 2017.
Williams’ document at Melbourne Park is 54 wins and 21 losses. This 12 months would be the twenty second time she has appeared in the principle draw.
The present document for the oldest lady to compete in an Australian Open foremost draw is held by Japan’s Kimiko Date, who was 44 when she misplaced within the first spherical at Melbourne Park in 2015.
In late December, Williams married Danish-born mannequin and actor Andrea Preti in Palm Seashore, Florida.
