Serena, Venus Williams’ US Open doubles journey ends in tiebreaker crusher

It had been four years since Serena and Venus Williams played together in the U.S. Open. They didn’t win the match, but they sure claimed the moment. And the memories. 

The sisters crammed years’ worth of peak drama into Friday’s family reunion in Flushing. 

With Serena making her comeback after a layoff — she dislikes the word “retirement” — the sisters fell 3-6, 7-6 (6), 6-7 (7) to Maya Joint and Hao-Ching Chan. 

A first-round doubles match does not ordinarily draw the loudest cheers of the tournament. But the Williams sisters are extraordinary. Ninety years between them, 44 Grand Slam titles, 14 in doubles, 11 here in Flushing. 

They won’t add another one this year after Friday’s highly anticipated match. 

The sisters won a second-set tiebreaker to level the match. After trailing 4-1 in the third, they stormed back to force another tiebreaker. They even reeled off nine straight points to go up 5-0 before finally running out of steam. 

The siblings dropped 10 of the last 12 in the tiebreak. Chan, an in-form doubles player, came up big at the net to help steal the victory. 

But clearly not the spotlight. 

That was never going to happen, especially with Serena, 44, making her return. 

“Yeah, kind of lost for words. It was an amazing match,” Joint said. “They played really well. I [don’t] think the atmosphere on the court was something that either of us has experienced quite like that before. Playing two legends of the game is just a super-special moment that [we] might not get again.” 

Both Williams sisters declined interview requests. 

While Venus has been playing singles — more on that later — Serena had stepped away to be a mother. The sisters hadn’t played doubles in the U.S. Open since a 2022 first-round loss that was presumed to be Serena’s swan song here. 

Just weeks earlier, Serena had written an essay in Vogue in which she said she was “evolving away from tennis.” But she was clear in pointing out her distaste for the word “retirement.” And thanks to prodding from her daughter, Olympia, that layoff may have been more of a break. 

“You need to play with Auntie VeVe,” Serena recalled of Olympia’s mandate this week on ABC’s “Good Morning America.” “She said it so clear and so calm. She’s like my mom, she doesn’t really talk a lot, but when she does talk, you listen. And I was like, ‘OK.’ ” 

So Serena has returned, but so far has been largely foiled by Joint. 

Serena lost to the 20-year-old Australian, a foe less than half her age, at Wimbledon. She injured her knee in that defeat and had to pull out of a planned doubles match with Venus, 46. 

They finally played together last month in Cincinnati. And Friday, there was still rust plainly evident. 

Venus got knocked out of the singles draw in wee hours Monday, playing until past 2 a.m. She’s dropped 15 straight singles matches since her last win in July 2025, prompting some to grouse over her receiving a wild card. 

But Friday she was the sharper of the sisters. 

Serena, arguably the best server in history, struggled and was broken twice in the first set as they lost 6-3. 

But the pair settled in during the second set as Serena took something off her fastball and started to serve better. They won the tiebreaker to force a third set. 

The siblings trailed 4-1 but Joint’s nerves started to fray. Serena attacked like a shark smelling blood, and they rallied to force a tiebreaker. They won nine straight points and went ahead 5-0 in the tiebreak before dropping 10 of the final dozen points. 

Joint and Chan won the match, but not the moment, as the Williams sisters walked off smiling and waving to cheers from the crowd, thanking them for the latest in a long line of memories. 

“Playing on Ashe, it’s kind of [Serena’s] home Slam. Singles, doubles, it’s a bit different. It’s both Serena and Venus, so just very similar and different at the same time,” Joint said. “But it’s awesome that I can say that I’ve beaten her twice.”