Venus Williams, 45, granted wild card to Miami Open, which begins Sunday
.jpg "INDIAN WELLS, CALIFORNIA - MARCH 05: Venus Williams of the United States returns a shot to Diane Parry of France during Day 2 of the BNP Paribas Open at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden on March 05, 2026 in Indian Wells, California. (Photo by Matthew Stockman/Getty Images)")
Venus Williams, the 45-year-old legend who made her Miami Open debut 29 years ago, was granted a wild card to the 2026 tournament, which begins Sunday at Hard Rock Stadium.
Williams, a three-time Miami Open winner, former champion Sloane Stephens, and five rising teenagers are among the wild card recipients announced on Thursday.
Seven-time Grand Slam champion Williams – a three-time Miami Open winner and former World No. 1 – returns for her 23rd appearance at the tournament. She will be competing in her 111th WTA 1000-level event, the fifth most in history.
Williams made her Miami debut in 1997 and won her first trophy a year later. Stephens won the 2017 U.S. Open, won the Miami Open in 2018 and was the runner up at the French Open that year.
They will be joined by fellow women’s wild card recipients Taylor Townsend, Ashlyn Krueger, Jennifer Brady, Lilli Tagger, Emerson Jones and Darja Vidmanova.
Krueger, a 21-year-old from Dallas, reached the Round of 16 last year with wins over Elena Rybakina (her first Top-10 victory) and Leylah Fernandez.
Townsend reached her first singles WTA final in Austin earlier this month and has reached the Miami Open third round in back-to-back years.
Tagger, an 18-year-old Austrian, won last year’s Roland Garros junior title and reached her first WTA final during the last week of the 2025 season.
Brady helped UCLA win an NCAA team title before a pro career that has been highlighted by reaching the 2021 Australian Open final. Vidmanova played at Georgia where she won the NCAA triple crown, claiming the team, singles and doubles championships during her career. Jones, a 17-year-old Australian, is a former junior No. 1 who captured her fourth career ITF title in February.
Men’s main draw wild cards were awarded to Martin Damm, Darwin Blanch, Moise Kouame, Wu Yibing and Rei Sakamoto.
Kouama, 17, has won two ITF titles already this season, while Japan’s Sakamoto, 19, owns three career ATP Challenger titles. Blanch, 18, became the youngest American to win an ATP match since 2015 when he defeated Borna Coric in Winston-Salem last year.
Damm, 22, reached his first ATP semifinal in Montpellier last month as a qualifier, and Wu is the first Chinese player to win an ATP title, doing so in Dallas in 2023.
Tickets for the tournament are available at miamiopen.com/tickets
This story was originally published March 12, 2026 at 4:50 PM.