StadiumPosts Logo
Stay upto date with notifications from Stadiumposts
Notifications can be managed in browser preferences

THE RETURN: WHY VENUS WILLIAMS CHOSE 2026 FOR HER SHOCKING AUSTRALIAN OPEN COMEBACK

Venus Williams is back! The 7-time Grand Slam champ returns to the 2026 Australian Open as an official wildcard at 45 years old.

THE RETURN: Why Venus Williams chose 2026 for her shocking Australian Open comeback
Venus Williams returns for her 22nd Australian Open

It’s finally official after weeks of whispers: Venus Williams is coming back to the Australian Open, thanks to a wildcard announced today by tournament organizers. The seven-time Grand Slam champ returns to Melbourne for the first time since 2021.

Five years have slipped by since Venus last played at the Australian Open—a place where she’s left her mark, reaching the final in both 2003 and 2017. Both times, her sister Serena stood in her way.

Venus, now 45, had already committed to the ASB Classic in Auckland next week, also via a wildcard. Ranked all the way down at world no. 582, she needs these invitations to get into top-level tournaments. That’s never really stopped her whenever she’s decided she wants back in.

She’s the final wildcard for the women’s singles that Tennis Australia announced, filling out a list mostly made up of homegrown talent: Talia Gibson, Priscilla Hon, Emerson Jones, and Tailah Preston. There’s also France’s Tiantsoa Rakotomanga Rajaonah, who got in through a deal with the French Tennis Federation, and American Elizabeth Mandlik via the USTA. Kazakhstan’s Zarina Diyas rounds out the group after winning the Asia-Pacific Wild Card Playoff in Chengdu.

Venus back on a big stage just feels right. She’s picked up 54 wins in 21 trips to the Australian Open. Her first was way back in 1998—28 years ago, believe it or not—when she reached the quarterfinals. She’s made it to the last eight at Melbourne nine times, and those two finals against Serena are still fresh for fans.

Her last run in Melbourne came in 2021, when she made it to the second round. She even became the first player over 40 to win a Grand Slam match since Martina Navratilova at Wimbledon in 2004. She beat Belgium’s Kirsten Flipkens in straight sets, then lost to qualifier Sara Errani in a rough match.

Venus has proven she can still mix it up with the best. She grabbed a win at the DC Open over Peyton Stearns, who was ranked No. 35 at the time. She played in Cincinnati and at the US Open too, though she didn’t notch any more wins.

Doubles? She’s still got it there, too. At the US Open, she reached the quarterfinals with Leylah Fernandez and teamed up with Reilly Opelka in mixed doubles (though that run didn’t last past round one). The doubles wildcards for Australia aren’t out yet. Honestly, don’t be shocked if Venus gets another invite.

DOHA DISASTER: IGA SWIATEK AND ELENA RYBAKINA BOTH CRASH OUT IN QUARTER-FINAL SHOCKERS

Massive upsets in Doha! Maria Sakkari stuns Iga Swiatek while teen Victoria Mboko takes down Rybakina. Read the full analysis.

top-news
World No. 52 Maria Sakkari upsets top seed Swiatek in Doha.

World number two Iga Swiatek and Australian Open champ Elena Rybakina both made early exits from the Qatar Open on February 12, falling in the quarter-finals to Maria Sakkari and Victoria Mboko.

Swiatek, the top seed and defending champ, started strong; she broke Sakkari twice in the first set and looked on track for another easy win. But Sakkari, who’s had a tough stretch lately, dug in. She fought back, grabbing a tense 2-6, 6-4, 7-5 win. Afterward, Sakkari admitted, “It’s been a while since I had a big win like today.” She used to be ranked as high as No. 3 in the world back in 2022 but has slipped all the way down to 52. “When you drop in the rankings and you’re not playing good tennis, you start doubting yourself. You think you’re never going to beat those players again,” she said. “So it’s a huge process you have to go through in your head that you can do it.”

Sakkari, 30, had beaten Swiatek three times earlier in their careers, but not since 2021. Swiatek had won their last four matches, including a straight-sets victory in Qatar last year. “Last year, in the second round here against her, I was not confident; I was not believing in myself, and this year it’s different. I feel a lot better,” Sakkari said. She’ll now play either Karolina Muchova or Anna Kalinskaya in the semi-finals. “I’ve missed that feeling of going deep into tournaments.”

Swiatek, who dominated this event in 2022, 2023, and 2024, looked ready to do it again. But after dropping the first set, Sakkari found something extra. She broke early in the second set, and even though Swiatek kept responding, Sakkari steadied herself, broke again, and took the set. For the first time in their seven matches, they went to a deciding set. It was back-and-forth—Swiatek saved a match point, but Sakkari served out the win, finally sealing it on her third chance. The match lasted just under two and a half hours.

Right after that, Victoria Mboko kept her hot streak going. She beat Rybakina 7-5, 4-6, 6-4 in a match that was only six minutes shorter than the Sakkari-Swiatek battle. Mboko had already beaten Rybakina once this year, in the Montreal semi-finals, and she came out swinging again, breaking Rybakina’s serve three times in the first set. She dropped her own serve twice but still took the set. Rybakina bounced back to grab the second, but the 19-year-old Canadian had the edge in the third and closed it out 6-4.

Mboko, who lost to world number one Aryna Sabalenka in Melbourne a few weeks ago, now faces Jelena Ostapenko in the Doha semis. Ostapenko, the 2017 French Open champ and last year’s runner-up, made it through by beating Elisabetta Cocciaretto 7-5, 6-4.

ELITE CLUB: SEBASTIAN KORDA HITS 150 ATP WINS TO JOIN CARLOS ALCARAZ AND JANNIK SINNER

Sebastian Korda secures his 150th ATP win in Dallas. Discover the six stars born after 2000 who are chasing Sinner and Alcaraz.

top-news
Sebastian Korda joins Alcaraz and Sinner

Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner are still running the show on the ATP Tour, but they’re not the only young guns making waves. Four other players born after 2000 have now reached 150 career wins, joining the exclusive club right behind the top two.

Sinner leads the pack with a massive 326 ATP wins, leaving Alcaraz in second with 287. These two haven’t just piled up the numbers, either—they’ve basically owned the Grand Slams lately, splitting the last nine majors between them.

Even so, this generation isn’t just a two-man race. Sebastian Korda made headlines at the Dallas Open by picking up his 150th ATP win against Michael Zheng. That puts him in the same bracket as Alcaraz and Sinner. Felix Auger-Aliassime sits just behind the top two with 270 wins, then comes Lorenzo Musetti at 184 and Holger Rune with 175.

Let’s be honest right now, Alcaraz and Sinner are still the players everyone’s chasing. But with both of them sitting out this week, the door’s wide open for someone else to step up. Korda, Taylor Fritz, and Ben Shelton are all battling it out at a Dallas Open packed with American talent. Meanwhile, Alex de Minaur and Auger-Aliassime are among the big names at the Rotterdam Open.

Take a look at the last nine Grand Slam winners, and it’s pretty much a Sinner-Alcaraz highlight reel:

Australian Open: 2024 Sinner, 2025 Sinner, 2026 Alcaraz

French Open: 2024 Alcaraz, 2025 Alcaraz

Wimbledon: 2024 Alcaraz, 2025 Sinner

US Open: 2024 Sinner, 2025 Alcaraz

Of course, there’s always hope that players like Rune and Jack Draper can mix things up, but Rune’s currently injured, and Draper’s just getting back after a long layoff. Then you have rising talents like Learner Tien and Joao Fonseca, both recent Next Gen ATP Finals champs, just like Alcaraz and Sinner were earlier in their careers, who might be the next to challenge the big two. The race is on, but for now, Alcaraz and Sinner are still setting the pace.

Premier League Standings

WhatsApp Read More News