Serena, Venus Williams US Open doubles journey ends in tiebreaker crusher

It had been four years since Serena and Venus Williams played together in the U.S.Open.

The sisters crammed years’ worth of peak drama into Friday’s family reunion in Flushing. The Williams sisters lost their first-round doubles match, but in the end the scoreline is just numbers.They gave 24,000 fans that packed Arthur Ashe Stadium — and frankly, the tennis world at large — moments and memories they won’t forget. With Serena making her comeback after a four-year layoff — she dislikes the word “retirement” — the sisters fell 3-6, 7-6 (6), 6-7 (7) to Maya Joint and Hao-Ching Chan.

It was a back-and-forth affair that had all the entertainment one would expect. The Williams sisters trailed 4-1 in the third set before they stormed back.And they reeled off nine straight points to go up 5-0 in the tiebreak.

But in the end, they ran out of steam. They dropped 10 of the last 12 points in the tiebreak.Chan, an in-form doubles player, came up big at the net to help steal the victory. But clearly not the spotlight. That was never going to happen, especially with Serena making her return. “Being able to play against such legends of the game is super special,” Joint said in an on-court TV interview. The Williams sisters declined interview requests. Though Venus has been playing singles — more on that later — Serena had stepped away to be a mother.

The sisters hadn’t played together in Flushing Meadows since 2022, when they fell in the first round in what was largely believed to be Serena’s swan song here. Just weeks earlier, she had written an essay in Vogue in which she said she was “evolving away from tennis.” But she was clear in pointing out her distaste for the word “retirement.” And thanks to prodding from 9-year-old daughter Olympia, that layoff may have been more of a break. “You need to play with Auntie VeVe,” Serena, 44, recalled of her daughter’s mandate this week on ABC’s Good Morning America.“She said i...