For the first time in four years, Serena Williams will return to the US Open Series in Cincinnati: The 23-time Grand Slam champion is on the initial entry list for next month's Western & Southern Open, a combined ATP and WTA 1000-level event that will be played from Aug. 13-21.
Williams last played the Western & Southern Open in 2020, when it was held in at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center prior to the US Open as a consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic. She last graced the courts of the Lindner Family Tennis Center—the tournament's traditional home—in her 2018 comeback season after the birth of her daughter, Olympia, the previous September.
Williams won back-to-back titles at the event in 2014 and 2015, and also reached the final in 2013.
Williams is one of 19 Grand Slam champions and 11 former Western & Southern Open winners between the two tours who've entered the event this year. On the women's side, reigning US Open winner Emma Raducanu, as well as former champions Naomi Osaka and Bianca Andreescu, and three-time US Open finalist Victoria Azarenka, are also in the player field.
After nearly a full year away from tennis due to injury, Williams, now 40, made her return on grass last month in doubles at the WTA event in Eastbourne before playing singles at Wimbledon. After losing a first-round Centre Court epic to France's Harmony Tan in over three hours, Williams said she was gearing up for a return to the Big Apple.
"When you're at home, especially in New York, and the US Open, that being the first place I've won a Grand Slam, is something that's always super special" she said. "There's definitely lots of motivation to get better and to play at home."
Going all-in on those words, Williams is entered in both WTA 1000 hard-court events this summer. She is also expected to play in the National Bank Open presented by Rogers in Toronto, Canada the week of Aug. 6. Williams last played both events in the same season in 2015.
