Serena Williams made a headline-grabbing return to Arthur Ashe Stadium on August 25, 2026, partnering with Carlos Alcaraz for the US Open’s revamped mixed doubles competition. Playing before more than 10,000 fans, the star duo secured an opening victory before falling in the quarterfinals to Belinda Bencic and Flavio Cobolli.
Serena Williams and Carlos Alcaraz Draw Massive Crowds on US Open Return
More than 1,453 days after her defeat by Ajla Tomljanovic that had appeared to end her career, 44-year-old Serena Williams stepped back under the lights at Arthur Ashe Stadium. Paired with 22-year-old Carlos Alcaraz, Williams emerged from the tunnel at half-past three to a roaring crowd of over 10,000 spectators on August 25, 2026. As the American and Alcaraz warmed up in matching purple-and-black Nike kits, public-address announcer Andy Taylor rattled off her accolades one by one to a steadily rising wall of applause.
The tournament was still officially in qualifying week, but the crowds had already swelled to main-draw proportions. The scenes along the boardwalk from the Mets-Willets Point subway station to the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center looked like the middle weekend of the tournament. The No 7 train exhaled bursts of fans every few minutes, while vendors rolled enormous coolers through the crowd, selling cold water and canned soda, and Jehovah’s Witnesses stood beside literature carts.
The high-profile tandem carried 30 grand slam singles titles combined, a record for a mixed-doubles team at a major. Williams is a 23-time grand slam singles champion, while Alcaraz is a seven-time major winner. Alcaraz, returning from a hiatus of his own due to a wrist injury in the spring that forced him to withdraw from the French Open and Wimbledon, wore a white sleeve and looked rusty from double-faulting on the opening point.
“I was out for almost five months and I almost forgot how it feels stepping out on the court once again. She (Williams) made it really easy for me – just to try to enjoy it and go for it every time.”
After shaking off early rust that included dropping three of the first four games, Alcaraz and Williams found their rhythm. They reeled off eight of the final nine games to overcome the British-New Zealand pairing of Lloyd Glasspool and Erin Routliffe 5-3, 4-1 in a match scheduled during the tournament’s qualifying week. The duo embraced after capitalizing on a third match point at Arthur Ashe Stadium to secure the victory in just under an hour.
Quarterfinal Exit Against Belinda Bencic and Flavio Cobolli
That initial momentum did not survive the quick turnaround, as Belinda Bencic and Cobolli ended their run. Williams and Alcaraz succumbed in the quarterfinals to the fourth-seeded team of Belinda Bencic and Flavio Cobolli with a score of 5-4 (4), 4-1 in a duel where their weak point was the return, as they did not have a single break point. While the star pair appeared more solid than in their round of 16 match, especially in the first set, they lacked that spark of magic that they had displayed earlier to overcome key moments.
The match began with Alcaraz and Serena showing a much better version than in the early stages of their encounter against Glasspool and Routliffe, facing opponents who also did not concede much on serve. The initial games unfolded without major setbacks for either duo, and Alcaraz managed to land many more first serves than in the first match, a key statistic for both this format and for what lies ahead in the singles draw. The first test came at 40-40 and 3-3 with Alcaraz serving; in mixed doubles, there is no advantage, only golden point, but Carlos delivered a great serve for Serena to finish at the net with a fantastic volley to put them up 4-3. Amid this equality, they reached the tie break, which started 3-0 for Bencic and Cobolli before Alcaraz and Serena fought back, but ultimately it was the Italian and the Swiss who proved more solid to take the first set. The second set began in the same vein, and Bencic and Cobolli sealed the match to advance and face Gael Monfils and Elina Svitolina for a spot in the final, while Alcaraz continued training to arrive in peak form for the singles draw.
Despite the quick exit, Williams looked anything but a nostalgia act, flying to the net and reading points. Reflecting on the experience, Williams noted the unexpected nature of her return to competitive play.
Format Changes and Shaken Seedings in the Revamped Mixed Doubles
The tournament format itself played a major role in the swift action. The tournament features a $1 million prize on the line in the mixed doubles tournament. Each match in the mixed doubles tournament is best of three sets, and to win a set, a team needs to win four games, while the Wednesday final will be a best-of-three-set match with sets to six games. Mixed doubles may be the only chance viewers get to watch Williams play at Arthur Ashe this year, as she will not be playing singles in New York. Defending two-time US Open mixed doubles champions Sara Errani and Andrea Vavassori and Jessica Pegula and Taylor Fritz are among the other pairs confirmed for the event.
The experimental setup caught multiple high-profile pairings off guard. Top seeds Novak Djokovic and Aryna Sabalenka suffered a first-round exit after surrendering a one-set lead to lose to Britain’s Henry Patten and Czech player Katerina Siniakova. Patten and Siniakova – two of the world’s top-ranked doubles players – overcame some early nerves to complete a 1-4 4-2 10-2 comeback victory. Djokovic – a 24-time grand slam singles champion, including four US Open titles – was aced by Siniakova on match point in the tie-break. Patten, 30, told Sky Sports regarding the format: “It wasn’t looking very good for a while. In this format, we played one bad game and all of a sudden the first set’s gone. We knew the same was possible in the second set and we played an amazing tie-break – Kat acing Novak on match point was pretty fun.”
| Matchup | Result |
|---|---|
| Serena Williams & Carlos Alcaraz vs. Lloyd Glasspool & Erin Routliffe | 5-3, 4-1 (Round of 16) |
| Belinda Bencic & Flavio Cobolli vs. Serena Williams & Carlos Alcaraz | 5-4 (4), 4-1 (Quarterfinals) |
| Henry Patten & Katerina Siniakova vs. Novak Djokovic & Aryna Sabalenka | 1-4, 4-2, 10-2 (Round of 16) |
| Elina Svitolina & Gael Monfils vs. Henry Patten & Katerina Siniakova | 5-4 (6), 4-5 (3), 10-8 (Quarterfinals) |
Patten and Siniakova were later beaten, while Gael Monfils and Elina Svitolina advanced to face Bencic and Cobolli.
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