{"id":878278,"date":"2026-08-31T13:58:10","date_gmt":"2026-08-31T13:58:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/878278\/"},"modified":"2026-08-31T13:58:10","modified_gmt":"2026-08-31T13:58:10","slug":"venus-williams-bows-out-after-2am-following-latest-start-in-us-open-history-us-open-tennis-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/878278\/","title":{"rendered":"Venus Williams bows out after 2am following latest start in US Open history | US Open Tennis 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sunday had become Monday by the time Venus Williams finally emerged beneath the closed roof of Arthur Ashe Stadium, her entrance pushed deep into the night after Novak Djokovic\u2019s bruising defeat<\/a> by Argentina\u2019s Mariano Navone went the five-set distance. The first ball was struck at 12.13am, the latest start to a match in US Open history, yet several thousand spectators remained to watch a player who has been part of this tournament for as long as the building itself.<\/p>\n

At 46 years old, ranked 611th in the world and making her record-extending 26th US Open singles appearance, Williams has grown accustomed to making history simply by showing up. Even by those standards this latest installment was, as she would later describe it, \u201ccompletely insane\u201d.<\/p>\n

The match itself proved somewhat more straightforward. Williams was beaten 6-2, 7-6 (6) by fellow American wildcard Sofia Kenin in their first-round encounter after 1hr 48min, extending her losing streak at tour level to 15 matches and leaving her without a win at a major tournament since Wimbledon in 2021.<\/p>\n

\u201cVenus obviously was playing some amazing tennis,\u201d said Kenin, the 2020 Australian Open champion who also reached the Roland Garros final later that year<\/a>. \u201cI just tried to keep fighting. I didn\u2019t feel 100% game-wise, some nerves, but I tried to do the best to stay strong in those moments.\u201d<\/p>\n

Williams, a seven-time grand slam champion in singles but a silhouette of the player who lifted back-to-back US Open titles in 2000 and 2001, was broken in her opening service game after three minutes and again the next time she stepped to the line, quickly falling 0-3 behind. She briefly steadied herself, breaking Kenin then holding for 2-3, but the resistance proved fleeting as her opponent reeled off the next three games to take the opening set in 32 minutes.<\/p>\n

Kenin, who had won just five of 21 tour-level matches this year, was made to negotiate a far trickier second set. Just when the 27-year-old appeared ready to stroll into the next round after seizing an early break, she came undone in a blur of unforced errors that left the door open for Williams, the clear crowd favorite.<\/p>\n

Sofia Kenin reacts during her first-round match against fellow American Venus Williams at the US Open on Monday morning in New York. Photograph: Mike Stobe\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

The match appeared to turn for good when Kenin fell behind 0-40 serving at 4-5, only for her to erase three set points and wriggle free. Williams then fought off four break points in the next game to force a tie-break, where she surged to a 6-2 lead and staked four more chances to force a decider. But the finish line proved elusive as Kenin ripped off off the next six points to snatch the set and the match at one minute past 2am, sending her through to another all-American clash in the second round with the No 3 seed Jessica Pegula.<\/p>\n

Williams\u2019s second serve was particularly vulnerable on the night, with Kenin winning 61% of the points played behind it, while the younger American dictated the longer exchanges from the baseline. Kenin finished with more than twice as many winners (28) as Williams (13) and repeatedly proved steadier on the match\u2019s biggest points.<\/p>\n

If the result prompted a fresh round of questions about Williams\u2019s future, she was in no mood to field them.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think I should have to,\u201d said Williams, who is scheduled to play alongside her sister Serena<\/a> in the women\u2019s doubles starting Thursday. \u201cMy mind is fully focused on that: how I recover from this completely insane evening and get ready for the next one.\u201d<\/p>\n

Williams\u2019s wildcard invitation has inevitably raised the question of whether a place in the draw might have been better allocated to a younger player trying to establish herself instead of someone who has earned roughly $43m in prize money, with countless more from endorsements and outside endeavors. A first-round loser at this year\u2019s US Open earns $140,000 \u2013 potentially a life-changing sum for a player grinding away on the lower reaches of the tour, where travel, coaching and training expenses can easily outstrip what they make on court. For some, a main-draw wildcard and the payday attached to it can mean the difference between financing another year as a professional and walking away from the sport altogether.<\/p>\n

Fans of Venus Williams hold up signs during her first-round match against fellow American Sofia Kenin at the US Open early Monday morning in New York. Photograph: Jeenah Moon\/Reuters<\/p>\n

Yet Craig Tiley, the US Open\u2019s incoming tournament director, was unequivocal when asked about the decision on Saturday. \u201cIn our view, Venus deserved a wildcard,\u201d he said. \u201cHer contribution to the game and what she brings to the event, you know, I didn\u2019t think one second about it, to tell you the honest truth.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think she\u2019s a magnificent champion, an American tennis icon, and we see the feedback the fans give us, and they want to see Venus play.\u201d<\/p>\n

Williams has been world No 1 in singles and doubles, won four Olympic gold medals and 14 grand slam doubles titles in addition to the seven in singles. She made her debut here as a 17-year-old in 1997 \u2013 the same year Ashe was completed and replaced Armstrong<\/a> as the tournament\u2019s main stadium \u2013 becoming the first unseeded player in the Open era to reach the final before losing to Martina Hingis. Given her preposterous longevity and pan-cultural resonance, it wouldn\u2019t be hyperbolic to call her one of the five most famous active sportspeople on the planet.<\/p>\n

Whatever the merits of the wildcard debate, the rollicking crowd who stayed inside a tennis stadium past 2am on Monday in the outer reaches of Queens to watch a 46-year-old ranked outside the top 600 offered its own verdict on why the US Open keeps inviting her back. The hour at which she was called to perform so was another matter.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not ideal,\u201d Williams said. \u201cI would have preferred something \u2060else definitely. It wasn\u2019t great for either of us, so I think we \u200bboth tried our best. I just \u200bdon\u2019t know any other sport where you \u200bhave to start that late. I definitely think there\u2019s room for improvement there.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sunday had become Monday by the time Venus Williams finally emerged beneath the closed roof of Arthur Ashe…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":878279,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[442],"tags":[49,48,82,593],"class_list":["post-878278","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-sports","tag-tennis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/878278","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=878278"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/878278\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/878279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=878278"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=878278"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=878278"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}