Serena Williams and Alcaraz to play mixed doubles at US Open

US tennis player Serena Williams speaks at a press conference after her women's doubles match with Czech Republic's Karolina Muchova against Mexico's Giuliana Olmos and New Zealand's Erin Routliffe on the German Open Tennis Tournament. (is associated with: «Serena Williams and Alcaraz to play mixed doubles at US Open») Andreas Gora/dpa

Tennis stars Serena Williams and Carlos Alcaraz will team up in the mixed doubles at the US Open in a surprise pairing, tournament organizers in New York said on Saturday.

The US 23-time Grand Slam champion, 44, and the 23-year-old Spaniard have been awarded a wildcard for the main draw of the doubles competition.

Qualifying for the mixed doubles begins next Monday and the main draw starts on Tuesday. Another world-class pairing in the field is record men's Grand Slam champion Novak Djokovic of Serbia and world number one Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus.

Alcaraz will make his comeback on tour in New York after a four-month injury layoff. The seven-time Grand Slam winner suffered a wrist injury in mid-April at the ATP tournament in Barcelona and subsequently missed the French Open and Wimbledon.

In singles, he is the defending champion in New York. Despite the long injury break, the Olympic runner-up is still ranked third in the world behind Sinner and Alexander Zverev.

Sinner, in turn, will not compete at the US Open. Like Alcaraz, he withdrew from the tournament currently being played in Cincinnati because of injury.

For Williams, it is a return to the US Open, where she last played singles in 2022. The six-time US Open singles champion won the mixed doubles title at the tournament once before, in 1998 together with Max Mirnyi.

It is still unclear whether she will also play singles, like her sister Venus Williams, 46. Serena Williams celebrated her comeback at Wimbledon in July.