Venus Williams called on her sister Serena Williams to “show up” for her next match at the US Open after reaching the quarter-finals of the mixed doubles with Leylah Fernandez.
Williams, 45, took a wildcard into the tournament but continued her run with 22-year-old Canadian Fernandez as they defeated Ekaterina Alexandrova and Zhang Shuai 6-3 6-4 at a packed Louis Armstrong Stadium on Monday.
Williams won 14 grand slam doubles titles alongside Serena, who posted a TikTok of herself pretending to be jealous of her sister finding a new doubles parter after their second-round win against Ulrikke Eikeri and Eri Hozumi.
“She’s so happy for Leylah and I,” Williams said on court. “She’s giving us advice. We just need her in the box. My message is, Serena, you need to show up!”
Williams added that Serena is watching her matches with her two children and is acting as their “third coach” during the US Open.
“I just got a video of my nieces watching the match and yelling my name,” Williams said. “The little one is barely two, not even two yet — or she is two. She’s just yelling, and so I feel like I’m getting quality time with them still, even though I’m not there.
“If she [Serena] came, it would be a dream for both of us and we’d have her on the court coaching. We’d force her to hit, even though she doesn’t hit often. It’s probably best she doesn’t come because we’d probably bully her.”
Victory for Williams, who lost in the first round of the singles to Karolina Muchova, means the 45-year-old is also through to her first grand slam quarter-final since 2017.
Williams and Fernandez will play top seeds Taylor Townsend and Katerina Siniakova in the next round.
“I think for me it’s going to be a great match. Taylor and Katerina, they’ve been playing incredible doubles together, incredible years,” said Fernandez, who reached the 2021 US Open singles final and lost to Emma Raducanu.
“I know they are both super-aggressive, and the atmosphere is going to be electric, just like every other day. I feel like we’re just going to go out there, enjoy our time, and hopefully play our game.”
