The 2026 U.S. Open wild cards were announced Tuesday, and the women’s singles main draw choices were both extraordinary and unsurprising.
The U.S. Open pre-allocates five of its eight wild card slots—to a junior champion, a collegiate playoff winner, a wild card challenge winner, a French reciprocal, and an Australian reciprocal—leaving just three spots to the tournament’s discretion.
One of those three went to Sloane Stephens, the 2017 U.S. Open champion. Stephens, 33, started the season outside the Top 1000 after a stress fracture sidelined her last year, but has climbed to the edge of the Top 200 and beat 25th-ranked Anastasia Potapova a couple of days ago at ATP-WTA 1000 Cincinnati. It’s the first wild card for Stephens into a Grand Slam event since 2011.
The last two spots, though, are the story. Because the Williams sisters, for nearly 30 years now, are always the story. And as it becomes increasingly clear that time is running out for these main characters of the sport, the question is how they choose to end their legendary tale.
Because, really, it can’t go on much longer.
