Serena and Venus Williams have lost in the first round of doubles at the U.S. Open. They were eliminated by the Czech pair of Lucie Hradecka and Linda Noskova 7-6 (5), 6-4.
The Williams sisters, who did not do interviews after the match, were partnering up for the first time since the 2018 French Open. This was their fourth first-round doubles defeat at a Slam; the most recent had been at the 2013 French Open.
Speaking to the sellout crowd of 23,859, she said: “I’m so sorry for you that we beat them, but we are so happy that we did it.” After a rather subdued entrance from the locker room by Hradecka and Noskova, who were competing as a team for the first time, a video tribute to the Williams-Williams pairing played on the Ashe videoboards, with a narrator introducing “two of the greatest athletes on Planet Earth” and, in a reference to Serena’s looming retirement, saying, “It’s not too late to change your mind.
During the pre-match warmup, the announcer noted that the sisters are 14-0 in Grand Slam doubles finals and declared: “They’ve transformed and elevated the sport as we know it.”The spectators saved their biggest cheers for some of Serena’s best efforts, whether aces or putaways or an on-the-run forehand winner. The sisters went up 5-4 early and held two set points there on Noskova’s serve, but could not convert either.