Serena Williams returns to US Open as fan for first time since farewell

Serena Williams returned to the U.S. Open — no racket in hand.

The six-time U.S. Open women’s singles champion returned to Flushing Meadows on Saturday night for the first time since she played the last tournament of her legendary career on-site in 2022, and she also attended Grigor Dimitrov’s match against Andrey Rublev on Sunday.

Back in 2022, she lost to Ajla Tomljanovic in a third-round match before walking away from the competitive aspect of the sport, while carefully avoiding the term retirement.

Williams wasn’t exactly incognito Saturday despite her sunglasses as she was greeted outside for photos by tournament director Stacey Allaster and walked around the grounds to see different matches.

But one of her good friends did not spot her.

“I’m going to text her,” former No. 1-ranked player Caroline Wozniacki said with a laugh, after advancing to the fourth round with a victory. “I’m pretty mad at her for not showing up at my match. … I think we have to talk about that a little bit later.”

Williams, 42, sat in a suite at Arthur Ashe Stadium while Jannik Sinner — the No. 1-ranked player on the men’s side — disposed of Christopher O’Connell in straight sets.

Iga Swiatek — who holds the No. 1 ranking that belonged to the 23-time Grand Slam champion Williams often throughout her career — did have a pre-match chat with Williams.

She then advanced to the fourth round.

“It was really nice to see her,” Swiatek said, according to WTATennis.com. “She has a lot of positive energy. It’s nice that she came on-site and she was chatting with the players. Because for me, I still felt — even though we met before and for like [a] couple of years we have been on the same sides and on tour together — she’s still, like, star-striking to me. It was nice that she approached me because I wouldn’t find courage to do that if it was the other way.

“I’m happy that she’s following tennis and my game because she told me that she’s cheering for me. It’s always nice to hear that from somebody like Serena.”

— Information from the Associated Press was used in this report