August was a big month for Venus Williams. On the 13th, new Venus Barbie was announced, the second in her image. Then the next day, the US Open announced she would be granted a wild card to play singles at this year’s tournament, after missing the last seven grand slams.
The timing was opportune for Mattel whose marketing team must have been thrilled with her increased visibility via her matches at Flushing Meadows.
The first Venus Williams Barbie was released last year to celebrate the doll’s 65th anniversary.
That Venus doll was one of a release of nine representing female athletes. She wears a green gem necklace and white halter neck dress outfit similar to the one worn by Venus as she won Wimbledon in 2007.
Barbie has long had an interest in tennis. As far back as 1962, a tennis outfit and accessories were part of the doll’s wardrobe. Soon after, her companion doll Ken issued his own tennis wardrobe.
The latest Venus Barbie wears shorts, as Williams has occasionally done through her career. Speaking about her fashion line EleVen in 2018, she said, “I normally wear dresses and skirts, but next year I’ll be wearing more shorts.”
Prior to the US Open, this tennis year started for Williams in July at the Mubadala Citi DC Open. There she defeated 35th ranked Peyton Stearns in straight sets, serving nine aces, before bowing out 1 & 1 next round to 5th seed Magdalena Frech.
Next, Williams followed the tour from Washington to Cincinnati to play a first round against Jéssica Bouzas Maneiro. This time she could not rely on her serving for free points with three double faults and no aces. The final score was 6-4 6-4 to Bouzas Maneiro.
Venus had not played a main tour doubles match for almost three years before Washington. She partnered Hailey Baptiste for a 6-3 6-1 victory over Eugenie Bouchard and Clervie Ngounoue.
After her powerful display in the match, she explained the significance of her return, “It’s just nice to be able to play. Where I am at this year is so much different to where I was at last year. It’s night and day, being able to be here and prepare for the tournament as opposed to preparing for surgery a year ago.”
She and Baptiste then came up against a team of current top doubles players, Taylor Townsend and Zhang Shuai. In a high level match, it came down to break points. Williams / Baptiste won three of 10, while their opponents capitalised on three of four; then led all the way in the match tiebreak, for a score of 6-4, 3-6, [10-6].
Title photo by Mattel
Update – The US Open
This year’s US Open honoured the achievements of Althea Gibson, who 75 years ago became the first Black person to compete at the U.S. National Championships (now the US Open).
Venus Williams, together with her stylist Ronald Burton III, designed an outfit based on one worn by Gibson – a white short-sleeved top with a longish white pleated skirt.
It was a similar tribute to the one made by Ash Barty to her idol Evonne Goolagong at Wimbledon in 2021. Barty won that year wearing wore a slightly modernised version of the dress worn by Goolagong as champion in 1971.
As for the tennis, Williams started her campaign during Fan Week in the new condensed mixed doubles event. She teamed with Reilly Opelka thanks to another wild card.
They were knocked out the opening round by Karolína Muchová and Andrey Rublev, 4-2, 5-4.
In the first round of the singles, Williams was again thwarted by Muchová. She was competitive against the 11th seed for two sets before running out of steam in the third, 3-6 6-2 1-6. So her 2025 singles record was one win from four matches and a ranking of No. 575.
In the doubles event, Williams made it all the way to the quarterfinals in a scratch partnership with Leylah Fernandez.
To get there, they beat unseeded Eri Hozumi and Ulrikke Eikeri, but also the No. 6 seeds Lyudmyla Kichenok / Ellen Perez and the No. 12 seeds Ekaterina Alexandrova / Zhang Shuai. All these rounds, they won in straight sets.
But their run was stopped by the top seeds. Taylor Townsend and Kateřina Siniaková have won Wimbledon and the Australian Open as a team. Williams and Fernandez were off form in both serving and receiving and achieved no break points. In the final score, they managed just three games.
“In a lot of ways, we just ran out of time,” Williams said at their press conference. “I wish I could have played better today for Leylah… I think with a few matches I could have been a stronger partner today.”
Despite the disappointment of exiting the tournament at that stage – but now with a doubles ranking of 145, having won four of six matches in 2025 – Williams saw the positives in her comeback. “I had a lot of chances to play a lot of matches here, which is what I would desperately need to get better. I saw myself improving so much with every match I was playing.”