Seven-time Grand Slam singles champion Venus Williams and former world No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki are at the top of the list of the eight players awarded wild cards into the 2023 US Open women’s singles main draw.
They’ll be joined by Americans Ashlyn Krueger, Robin Montgomery, Kayla Day and Clervie Ngounoue, as well as Australia's Storm Hunter and France's Fiona Ferro as part of reciprocal wild-card agreements with Tennis Australia and the French tennis federation.
Main draw play for the 2023 US Open begins on Monday, Aug. 28.
This year’s tournament will be Williams’ 24th main draw appearance in Queens, where she won back-to-back titles in 2000 and 2001. Now 43, the former No. 1 missed nearly six months on the court due to injury this year, but made her return during the grass-court season. Never a player to be counted out, Williams clinched her first Top 20 win since 2019 two days ago at the WTA 1000 event in Cincinnati, defeating Veronika Kudermetova in straight sets.
Wozniacki, 33, is making her first Grand Slam appearance since retiring after the 2020 Australian Open to start a family. Now with two small children, 2-year-old Olivia and 6-month-old James, the former world No. 1 and 2018 Australian Open champion is returning to the courts where she was the women’s singles finalist in 2009 and 2014.
This year’s tournament isn’t just about long-time legends though—the next generation is quickly rising through the ranks, and they’re eager to make their mark. Day, 23, broke into the Top 100 in July, reaching a career-high No. 94. The former world No. 1 junior player and 2016 US Open girls’ singles champion earned her wild card by winning the US Open Wild Card Challenge. This year, she qualified for Roland Garros and reached the third round, beating Madison Keys along the way, and has also captured two ITF World Tennis Tour W100 titles this season.
This will be Ngounoue’s Grand Slam singles main draw debut, while Krueger and Montgomery will be trying to make it past the Round of 128 for the first time. This will be Krueger’s third straight appearance in the US Open main draw, and is coming in hot after winning the biggest professional title of her career in June at the WTA 125 event in Gaiba, Italy at the age of 19. For Montgomery, 18, this year’s tournament is her second main draw appearance at a major, but she is no stranger to success in Flushing Meadows—she swept the girls’ singles and doubles titles at the 2021 US Open, winning the doubles crown with Krueger.
Seventeen-year-old Ngounoue earned her wild card by winning the USTA Billie Jean King Girls’ 18s National Championships on Sunday, just weeks after clinching her third junior Grand Slam title (and first in singles) at Wimbledon.
Nine American women received wild cards into the US Open Qualifying Tournament, which takes place from Aug. 22-25, and is free to attend as a part of US Open Fan Week. Make sure to catch them on the courts as they fight for one of the last 16 spots in the main draw.
- Liv Hovde, 17, the 2021 Wimbledon girls’ singles champion
- Katrina Scott, 19, who reached the second round of the 2020 US Open as a 16-year-old
- Makenna Jones, 25, a former All-American at North Carolina who has won nine (2 singles; 7 doubles) ITF World Tennis Tour titles this year
- McCartney Kessler, 24, a former All-American at Florida
- Mary Stoiana, 20, a rising junior at Texas A&M who was named the SEC Player of the Year in 2023
- Valerie Glozman, 16, the No. 1-ranked 18-and-under player in the USTA junior rankings
- Fiona Crawley, 21, a rising senior at North Carolina who won the NCAA doubles titles and was named the ITA National Player of the Year in 2023
- Chloe Beck, 21, the 2019 French Open girls’ doubles champion and All-American at Duke
- Katherine Hui, 18, the USTA Billie Jean King Girls’ 18s singles runner-up
