The 23-time grand slam singles and 14-time doubles champion is still set to play against Australia’s Ajla Tomljanović in the third round of the singles draw on Friday. Venus Williams lost in the first round on Tuesday.
Thursday night might have been the last match for Serena and Venus as a doubles team. The Czech Republic duo of Nosková, 17, and Hradecká, 37, advance to the second round, winning 7-6(5), 6-4.
The Williams sisters entered the US Open as a doubles wild card. They last played doubles together in the 2018 French Open, when they reached the round of 16.
On Wednesday, Serena defeated Anett Kontaveit 7-6(4), 2-6, 6-2 in singles play. It was Williams’ fourth match since announcing in Vogue magazine she will “evolve away from tennis” after the US Open.
“I have never liked the word retirement. It doesn’t feel like a modern word to me. I’ve been thinking of this as a transition, but I want to be sensitive about how I use that word, which means something very specific and important to a community of people,” Williams, 40, said in the Vogue article published earlier this month.
“Maybe the best word to describe what I’m up to is evolution. I’m here to tell you that I’m evolving away from tennis, toward other things that are important to me,” she said.
Venus Williams, 42, has not announced her future tennis plans.
