Venus Williams falls to Sofia Kenin in a late-night U.S. Open loss, brushing aside retirement talk despite her 14th straight defeat.
Two-time US Open singles champion Venus Williams suffered a tough loss to start her 26th U.S. Open singles appearance. Williams lost to Sofia Kenin 6-2, which is now her 14th consecutive singles loss. Her last victory was in July 2025 over Peyton Stearns, and it is also her sixth straight U.S. Open loss since 2019.
Following the match, chatter about her retirement festered amongst reporters. Williams is 46 years old, and Kenin is 27, but at media availability, Williams bristled at the talk of a potential swan song in tennis.
“I don’t think I should have to,” Williams said, according to ESPN. “My mind is fully focused on that: how I recover from this completely insane evening and get ready for the next one.”
The match was highlighted by a long 4-hour, 36-minute match between Novak Djokovic and Marin Čilić in Arthur Ashe Stadium. Dijakovic went on to lose to Navoni, which made way for the match between Williams and Kenin. But the match started at 12:13 AM, the latest start of any match at the annual tournament, following Aryna Sabalenka and Ekaterina Alexandrova’s delayed start in 2024. Williams and Kenin’s match ended at 2:01 AM.
Williams commented on the delay, saying, “It’s not ideal. I would have preferred something else, definitely. It wasn’t great for either of us, so I think we both tried our best.”
She also commented on her performance, despite the odd circumstances of the match.
“I had a lot of great moments,” Williams said. “As the match progressed, I just kept pushing myself to try to find my best tennis and to find my rhythm. It’s not easy to do in the first round. It’s not easy to do at 1 or 2 a.m. in the morning to try to find your rhythm and play your best, but I tried my best.”
Two-time US Open singles champion Venus Williams suffered a tough loss to start her 26th U. S. Open singles appearance. Williams lost to Sofia Kenin 6-2, which is now her 14th consecutive singles loss. Her last victory was in July 2025 over Peyton Stearns, and it is also her sixth straight U. S. Open loss since 2019.