Two-time US Open Champion Venus Williams and former WTA #1 Caroline Wozniacki have earned wildcards for the US Open with the former making her 24th main draw appearance at Flushing Meadows where she successfully completed back to back title runs in 2000 and 2001.
The 43-year-old bagged win in her opening campaign at Western and Southern Open but lost to her R2 opponent WTA #24 seed Zheng Qinwen on Wednesday. The American lost 11 games in a row to the emerging Chinese pro after taking the first set lead; she lost 1-6, 6-2, 6-1.
Wozniacki, 33 is also returning to the professional tour as she comes out retirement she announced at Melbourne Park in 2020. The 2018 Australian Open Champion earlier in June revealed that she is planning to return to WTA circuit and she enjoyed a solid comeback in Montreal last week where she registered a straight sets win in the opener against Kimberly Birrell before losing 6-2, 7-5 to Wimbledon Champion Marketa Vondrousova
The Dane then moved to Cincy where she couldn’t cope with the rust and lost to Frenchwoman Varvara Gracheva 6-4, 6-4 in the R64.
The former world No. 1, now a mother of two children, most successful runs at Flushing Meadows came in 2009 and 2014 as she ended runner-up at the New York major.
“I still have about 10 days to prepare for the US Open,” she said after her defeat in Cincinnati. “There are quite a few things that I feel like I need to do better
“Last week I was pretty pleased about where I was. I think this week I don’t feel like my timing is exactly where I want it to be, so I’m just going to go back and work hard.
“I believe in myself and I believe that I can have. It’s just taking me a little bit of time to get used to the matches again and competing in real tournaments.
“I don’t really feel the expectations from everyone else. I think I have always just been tough on myself. I’m looking for perfection, which is not possible in this sport but I’m just gonna work hard and try and play better and better.”
Williams and Wozniacki will be joined by up and coming American talent Ashlyn Krueger, Robin Montgomery, Kayla Day and Clervie Ngounoue, as well as Australia’s Storm Hunter and France’s Fiona Ferro.
The US Open is scheduled to get underway on Aug 28 but the final slam of the Calendar will not feature 2009 Champion Juan Martin Del Potro with the Argentine shelving his proposed comeback after bowing down to knee problems once again. He has appeared in only match for the last four years.
The former ATP #3 took to twitter to announce the sad news: “My desire to return to a court as special as the US Open had me excited.
“I tried by all means to achieve it, but my body does not accompany me 100 per cent to feel comfortable.
“The pain I feel doesn’t allow me to focus on a comeback yet. I will continue looking for the best alternatives to recover my quality of life.”