Venus Williams to make first Australian Open appearance in 5 years after being granted singles wild-card

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Venus Williams’ comeback tour is officially heading down under.

The 45-year-old tennis legend, currently ranked 148th in the WTA rankings, has been granted a wild-card entry into the Australian Open singles field, setting her up for her first appearance at the tournament in five years.

Williams has five career Australian Open titles, but all in doubles and mixed doubles. She’s reached the singles final twice, losing to her sister Serena in both 2003 and 2017.

The last time she competed in the tournament in any form was in the singles event in 2021, when she lost in the second round to qualifier Sara Errani. Her win in the first round alone made her the first woman since Martina Navratilova to win a grand slam singles match after turning 40.

Veteran tennis journalist Ben Rothenberg notes that because all eight Australian Open wild cards have now been allocated, two-time singles champion Victoria Azarenka, currently ranked No. 132 in the world, no longer has a path to the main draw.

Williams had been quietly out of action for 16 months between 2024 and 2025 due to health issues stemming from fibroids, leading to the WTA officially designating her as inactive. She made her return in July last year with an upset of the WTA’s No. 35 player and later made it into the US Open, where she took No. 11 seed Karolina Muchova to a third set before losing in the first round.

Her tennis future was unclear after that US Open appearance, which also included a quarterfinals run in doubles alongside Leylah Fernandez. She has since competed in the Charlotte Invitational exhibition last month (in which she also got married), and we now know we’ll be getting one more Grand Slam out of her.