“Who knows where I’ll pop up?” said Serena Williams following her first-round Wimbledon exit to Harmony Tan. Barely a fortnight later, we have an answer: Williams will use her protected ranking to compete at next month’s Canadian Open in Toronto, heightening expectations that she will play at the US Open.
The American, who returned to competition the week before Wimbledon after an absence of almost a year, partnering Ons Jabeur in the ladies’ doubles at Eastbourne, features on a strong entry list that includes the entire WTA top 30, headed by Iga Swiatek, the world No 1.
Williams has won in Toronto on three previous occasions and reached the final on her most recent appearance, in 2019, when she was forced to retire with a back injury against Bianca Andreescu.
The 40-year-old’s decision to use her protected ranking to enter the first WTA 1000 event of the North American hard-court swing would suggest she is planning a tilt at the US Open, which gets underway in New York at the end of August.
Following her Wimbledon defeat to Tan, Williams responded enthusiastically to an inquiry about whether she would compete at Flushing Meadows, where she won the first of her 23 grand slam singles titles in 1999.
“When you’re at home – especially in New York, in the US Open, and that being the first place I’ve won a grand slam – it’s something that’s always super special,” said Williams. “Your first time is always special. So there’s definitely lots of motivation to get better and to play at home.”
Under WTA rules, players who are out of competition for more than six months but less than a year can only use their special ranking to enter a maximum of eight tournaments within a one-year period.
Williams did not play for 364 days after a hamstring injury forced her to retire from her first-round match against Aliaksandra Sasnovich at last year’s Wimbledon. That prolonged period of inactivity means that, like Roger Federer, she is no longer ranked, and must therefore rely on protected entries and wild cards to compete.
Williams, who has won the US Open six times and last failed to reach the semi-finals in 2007, is one major short of Margaret Court’s all-time record of 24.
The women’s competition at the Canadian Open – which has been rebranded this year as the National Bank Open – begins in Toronto on 8 August. The event was won last year by Camila Giorgi, the Italian world No 28, who defeated Karolina Pliskova in the final to claim the biggest title of her career.
In the men’s event, which runs concurrently in Montreal, Rafael Nadal is scheduled to return from the abdominal injury that forced his withdrawal from the Wimbledon semi-finals.