Venus and Serena Williams finally made their return to tennis in women's doubles at the Cincinnati Open, their first match together since the US Open 2022, but lost in first round to Marta Kostyuk and Peyton Stearns. The match was exciting: the Williams lost the first set 6-2 but then made a big comeback in the following set, winning 1-6. Then, it was all decided in a final super tie-break: the sisters were 6-0 down, but managed to improve, although not enough, eventually losing 10-8 after a double fault by Venus.
The Williams were scheduled to play in doubles at Wimbledon but Serena Williams (44), who had just made her return to tennis four years after "evolving away" from it, suffered a knee injury. Serena previously made her big return in June.
Venus Williams (46) has continued to play regularly since, having some success in doubles (reached quarter-finals last summer at Cincinnati) but has not managed to win a singles match for over a year, a losing streak that extends to 13 after she lost to Emiliana Arango also at Cincinnati.
