Venus Williams Continues Return to Tennis at Western & Southern Open
Williams Awarded Wild Card Along with Sloane Stephens, Sofia Kenin
CINCINNATI (July 28, 2022) – Seven-time Grand Slam major champion Venus Williams, 2020 Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin, and 2017 U.S. Open champion Sloane Stephens have been awarded wild card entries into the Western & Southern Open main draw.
These wild cards join the world’s top 39 previously announced WTA players in the field as well as those using protected rankings, including Serena Williams. The women’s field features five former Western & Southern Open champions and 16 Grand Slam major winners. Two additional wild cards will be granted for the main draw while eight players will join the field following a two-round qualifying tournament on opening weekend, Aug. 13-14.
The Western & Southern Open will be the 42-year-old Venus Williams’ third singles event this summer. She returned to mixed doubles earlier this month at Wimbledon, teaming up with Jamie Murray to reach the second round. She owns 49 career singles titles, four Olympic gold medals and is a former world No. 1. The Williams sisters have played singles at the Western & Southern Open in the same year on six previous occasions but have never faced each other in Cincinnati. A former Western & Southern Open semifinalist, this will be Venus’ ninth singles appearance at the tournament.
The 2022 Western & Southern Open will be Stephens’ 11th appearance. In 2017, returning from injury and ranked No. 151, she was awarded a wild card into the Western & Southern Open and defeated four players in the top 40 to reach the semifinals. Three weeks later she was a Grand Slam champion. This year Stephens won her first title in four years and had her best showing at a Grand Slam tournament in three years, reaching the Roland Garros quarterfinals.
Kenin is returning to events this month after a four-month layoff due to a foot injury. Enroute to the 2020 Australian Open title she defeated then-world No. 1 Ash Barty, Coco Gauff, Ons Jabeur and Garbiñe Muguruza. Later that year she reached the Roland Garros final and U.S. Open fourth round to achieve a career-high ranking of No. 4. At the Western & Southern Open in 2019 Kenin reached the semifinals, falling to eventual champion Madison Keys.
The tournament’s first serve will take place at 10 a.m. on Saturday, Aug. 13 for the qualifying rounds. The men’s and women’s singles finals will be played on Sunday, Aug. 21. The schedule is available here.
Individual daily tickets for all sessions are on sale now. Multi-day ticket packages are sold out. Information about available tickets can be found at wsopen.com/tickets.
The Western & Southern Open, an ATP Masters 1000 and a WTA 1000 tournament, is part of the US Open Series and is held at the Lindner Family Tennis Center in Mason, Ohio.
