Serena and Venus Williams’s doubles career together is likely over after they lost to the Czech doubles team of Linda Nosková and Lucie Hradecká 7–6(5), 6–4 on Thursday during the U.S. Open.
The Williams sisters brought a primetime night match to Arthur Ashe Stadium for the first time thanks to Serena’s retirement farewell tour. The 23-time Grand Slam champion plans to “evolve” away from tennis sometime after the U.S. Open.
The first set highlighted a back and forth battle between the two doubles teams as they brought the set to a tiebreak. The Williams sisters kept it close, but then dropped the set.
They quickly got down in the second set by losing the first three games. They were able to bring the set to a 4–4 tie before the Czech team won the last two games to seal the victory.
The duo has 14 Grand Slam doubles titles together throughout their careers. They won their first doubles major title in 1999 at the U.S. Open, the same event and year that Serena captured her first singles major title.
On top of that, the sisters have 22 doubles titles and three Olympic gold medals for the doubles tournament.
The younger Williams sister’s tennis career isn’t quite over yet. She will return to Arthur Ashe on Friday night to play in the third round of the singles draw against Australian Ajla Tomljanović. Williams beat Danka Kovinić in straight sets in round one, and then she upset the World No. 2 Anett Kontaveit in three sets on Wednesday night.
The older Williams sister hasn’t announced any plans of a retirement yet. She told the media after her first round singles loss on Tuesday that she was “just focused on doubles” at that point and not thinking of retirement.
