Venus Williams to play 23rd US Open; joined by Brooksby and Nakashima as wild card recipients

Two-time US Open champion Venus Williams will make her 23rd appearance at her home major, 20 years after she successfully went back-to-back at Flushing Meadows.

On Wednesday, USTA confirmed Williams was among the women’s singles competitors set to feature in the 128-player main draw as a result of receiving a wild card. The seven-time Slam singles winner, who turned 41 in June, will be seeking her 80th career US Open match win when she takes the court in the opening round. Sitting at No. 112 in the most recent published rankings, Williams last appeared in the second round of Wimbledon, where she was defeated by eventual quarterfinalist Ons Jabeur.

Former semifinalist CoCo Vandeweghe and 19-year-old Caty McNally were also awarded spots. Vandeweghe will be hoping to rekindle some of her 2017 magic, as she has been unable to get beyond the second round in 10 other attempts. As for McNally, she took a set off Serena Williams in the 2019 second round and during that same stage a year later, claimed a decisive tiebreaker to knock out No. 21 seed Ekaterina Alexandrova.

Rounding out the women's selections are Hailey Baptiste, Ashlyn Krueger (USTA 18s National Championships winner), Emma Navarro (NCAA singles champion), Storm Sanders (Tennis Australia reciprocal agreement) and Katie Volynets.

In-form players Jenson Brooskby and Brandon Nakashima stood out among the men’s recipients. The pair of 20-year-olds each cracked the Top 100 after the cutoff thanks to superb play during the US Open Series.

Having torn up the ATP Challenger Tour throughout the first half of 2021, Brooksby immediately translated that success to a runner-up showing in Newport and semifinal effort at the 500-level event in Washington, D.C., where he knocked off Felix Auger-Aliassime. Two years ago, the Sacramento, Calif. native stunned Tomas Berdych in a memorable Queens debut.

Nakashima contested back-to-back ATP finals in Los Cabos and Atlanta, posting wins over John Isner and Milos Raonic along the way. The world No. 86 pushed 2020 US Open runner-up Alexander Zverev to four sets last September in Louis Armstrong Stadium, before dropping their second-rounder.

Ernesto Escobedo, Emilio Nava, Max Purcell (Tennis Australia reciprocal agreement), Sam Riffice (NCAA singles champion), Jack Sock and Zachary Svadja (USTA 18s National Championships winner) completed the governing body’s picks.