Rennae Stubbs has moved to defend Venus Williams after renewed criticism over the repeated use of singles wildcards.

The seven-time major champion was among eight women handed a wildcard for this year’s US Open, even though she has lost all 10 of her matches in 2026. Williams is also on a 13-match losing streak, with her last singles win coming at the Washington Open in July 2025.

That run has prompted some fans to argue that tournament organisers should stop offering her this route into events and instead hand opportunities to other players they view as more deserving. Stubbs, however, sees the situation differently.

Speaking before Williams’ first-round match against fellow American wildcard Sofia Kenin, Serena Williams’ coach said Venus remains a major attraction and continues to draw spectators. Stubbs said on her podcast, “I am going to let Venus decide when she wants to retire, I am going to let the tournaments decide when they don’t want to give her a wildcard because she still puts bums in seats, she still sells and people love to see her play.

“Until the tournament decides another player is more important to give a wildcard to, that’s up to them. I was on the tennis court with her today practising. I have never seen somebody love tennis so much and she is practising out there for hours.

“If you think she is just rocking up and playing and not putting the work in, you are sorely wrong on that. She was out there for almost three hours. She is putting the effort in, she’s working hard, I think we should appreciate her while we have her. I don’t think it’s going to be much longer; we’ll see.”

Stubbs also said Williams still strikes the ball “unbelievably” well and pointed to the crowds she drew in Cincinnati, where there were long queues outside her court, in contrast to Alexander Zverev playing in front of “half a stadium”.

For Stubbs, the equation remains one of supply and demand. As long as that continues, she believes Williams will keep receiving wildcards, even if the end of her career cannot be far away.

A strong group of ATP players has reached the same conclusion: Rafael Jodar is the leading young name in men’s tennis right now.

The Spaniard started the 2025 season at No. 895 while still at the University of Virginia. By the close of the year, the 19-year-old had climbed to No. 168, decided to turn professional, and set off on an even steeper rise in 2026.

That progress has been extraordinary. Earlier this month, Jodar moved to a career-high of No. 11, and he remains in position to challenge Boris Becker’s record for the fastest climb from the top 100 into the top 10.

His form has also placed him ninth in the ATP Tour Race, with a place at the ATP Finals in Turin later this year looking increasingly plausible. Among players 21 and under, only Learner Tien, Jakub Mensik, and Joao Fonseca are anywhere near him in the NextGen conversation.

With the US Open approaching, Jodar is aiming for another deep run after reaching the French Open quarter-finals earlier this year. Several established players have already pointed to him as the breakout candidate for Flushing Meadows.

Matteo Berrettini told ATP Tour, “I feel like there are so many young guys that are so good already; they are stars already.

“The first name that comes to mind is Jodar. He’s top 20 in the world. So he’s not really a rising star; he is a star already.”

Alex De Minaur also selected Jodar, while Casper Ruud named the Spaniard or Tien. Karen Khachanov added, “Jodar. I think everybody’s now speaking about him. Really fast development and progress over the last four, five months.”

The praise has not stopped there. Toni said, “I am liking Rafael Jodar a lot because of what I have seen. It seems to me that it is the best of the new generation,” and later added that he does not see him in the same class as Carlos Alcaraz, but believes he can trouble the best players in the world.

Aryna Sabalenka enters the US Open at a tense point in her season, with recent results leaving her in a more fragile position than at any stage in the year so far.

The world No 1 has not lifted a trophy since her Miami Open victory in March, and her campaign on clay and grass has been marked by a series of high-profile early defeats on the WTA Tour. That slide has turned this month’s major into something more than a title defense. Sabalenka now needs to win the US Open to protect her place at the top of the rankings, with Jessica Pegula, Elena Rybakina, and Coco Gauff all close behind her.

Johanna Konta has not been persuaded that Sabalenka will recover in time. After following the season closely, the former British number one said on TNT Sports: “I don’t think Sabalenka’s winning it [the US Open ]. It’s because players in the draw believe a bit more right now against here. So when Sabalenka has those lapses, which she does every match.

“I don’t think she’ll be able to get away from them,” continued Konta. “I think what she created for herself was this cushion of being able to have those lapses because I don’t think players were prepared necessarily on the other side of the net.

“I don’t think players believed in those times that they could find a way, so I think she really created a strong image around herself of being relatively unbeatable in certain situations. I think that has really come down a notch since Miami. For me, I don’t think she’s winning [the US Open].”

Sabalenka’s last three tournaments have all ended before the quarter-final stage, with exits at the Cincinnati Open, the Canadian Open, and Wimbledon. That run is especially striking given how strongly she began the season. She reached the Australian Open final, where she lost to Elena Rybakina, then followed that with wins at Indian Wells and the Miami Open.

She is defending the full 2000 ranking points from her 2025 US Open triumph, so anything short of matching that result would leave her vulnerable to the pressure from behind. Even so, the Belarusian has often reserved her best tennis for this event. She won the tournament in 2024 and 2025 and reached the final in 2023, when she lost to Gauff.