The Queen of Queens was back on her roll on Saturday as 23-time Grand Slam champion Serena Williams returned to the US Open.
And she arrived in style by reviving an old look: a denim skirt similar to the one she wore to a competition in New York in 2004, when she lost to Jennifer Capriati in a controversial quarterfinal.
That match, which was marked by poor officiating, was later cited again when electronic line calling was introduced in Grand Slam tennis.
Saturday marked Williams’ first visit to the US Open since 2022, when she played in the final tournament of her career. She reached the third round, losing to Ajla Tomljanovic in her final match, though Williams was careful not to say she was retiring, instead describing it as “evolving” away from professional tennis.
Since then, she has been busy with her business interests, signing a book deal, releasing a documentary series currently airing on ESPN, and in July, hosting ESPYS. Williams gave birth to her second daughter a year ago.
Serena Williams (center) watches the match between Jannik Sinner and Christopher O’Connell
Serena Williams, far left, watches a match between Tommy Paul and Gabriel Dialo
The 42-year-old American has won six US Open singles championships — tied with Chris Evert for the most — during her decades of dominance with a racquet in her hands. This time, Williams was in a suite at Arthur Ashe Stadium as No. 1 Jannik Sinner claimed a straight-sets third-round victory over Chris O’Connell.
Williams walked around the grounds and watched American Tommy Paul win at Louis Armstrong Stadium. At one point, she stopped by the players’ room to chat with current women’s No. 1 Iga Swiatek, who was scheduled to play Saturday night.
One of Williams’ close friends, 2018 Australian Open champion and former world No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki, joked after reaching the fourth round and winning on Saturday that she was disappointed not to see Williams in the Grandstand spectator seats.
“I’m going to text her,” Wozniacki said, laughing. “I’m pretty mad at her for not showing up to my game. … I think we’ll have to talk about that later.”
Williams wore a skirt similar to the one she wore in her 2004 loss to Capriati on Saturday
Williams attends day six of the 2024 US Open at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center
Williams is seen in the stands applying some lip gloss during the third round
Despite Williams’ absence from the sport, tennis is making a comeback, starting with Zendaya’s new film, Challengers, which uses the sport as the backdrop for a three-way love story.
Roland Garros serves as the setting for Season 4, Episode 1 of ‘Emily in Paris’, there’s a recently released docuseries about Williams and Roger Federer and an upcoming show about Carlos Alcaraz, not to mention Williams’ turn as host of the ESPYsand the roles played by Coco GauffRafael Nadal, Amelie Mauresmo and Williams in the opening ceremony for the Olympic Games in Paris.
“Tennis is so deeply ingrained in the culture and the zeitgeist right now. And that’s amazing to see,” said Jill Smoller, Williams’ longtime agent. “With all the movies and TV, the constant intersection of sports and fashion — in almost every industry, you see an athlete represented somewhere.”
The sport is coming off a golden era on the court, with Williams winning a women’s record 23 Grand Slam singles titles before run away in 2022Novak Djokovic is 24 and still going strong, Nadal is 22 and Federer, who announced his retirement two years ago, is 20.
Now there’s a new group of young stars. There’s the number 1-ranked woman, I’m going to Swiatekwho at the age of 23 already has five major championships to his name. Alcaraz has four, including the last two at the French Open and Wimbledon, and he is 21. Gauff, whose first Slam trophy came to Flushing Meadows a year ago, is 20.