Serena and Venus Williams avoided a possible combined $100,000 fine after missing mandatory media duties following their first-round doubles loss at the 2026 US Open.
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According to Tamara Prenn of The Daily Mail, the Williams sisters had to speak to the media after their three-hour first-round match against Maya Joint and Chan Hao-ching. Under Grand Slam rules, each player could have received a fine of up to $50,000 for missing the media duty.
This meant Serena and Venus could have faced a total fine of $100,000. However, the US Open later confirmed that neither sister would be fined.
According to James Gray of The iPaper, the USTA was not notified of any injury reason for skipping their obligations. The Grand Slam rules allow players to avoid a fine if they have a valid reason for not attending. Illness or injury can be accepted as such reasons.
Players at Grand Slam tournaments must attend media duties. These duties include post-match press conferences and other media events.
The Williams sisters were expected to complete these duties after their doubles match against Jont and Chan. Their three-hour match ended in a 6-3, 6-7 (6-8), 7-6 (10-7)defeat, ending their US Open doubles run early. However, neither sister went to the press room after the match.
If the tournament had found no valid reason for their absence, Serena and Venus could have lost $100,000 in total. But the US Open decided not to fine either sister.
After the loss, Serena shared pictures of herself walking onto the court with Venus. She captioned the post with the infinity symbol (∞), highlighting the strong bond between the sisters.
This latest incident also comes after Serena faced a similar situation at Wimbledon earlier this year. The same Daily Mail report says that Serena appeared to miss her press duties after losing to Joint in the Wimbledon singles event in July.
However, Serena later said that she had hurt her knee during the match. The injury then forced her to pull out of her planned doubles match with Venus.
Serena also said on social media that she was doing everything possible to be ready for the doubles event.
“I tweaked my knee late in the first set,” Serena wrote, while congratulating Jont on her win and thanking the Wimbledon crowd for its support.
The Wimbledon incident gives some context to the current US Open situation. Injury is one of the reasons that can potentially allow a player to miss media duties under Grand Slam rules.
The Guardian reported in 2010 that both sisters were fined after they missed a Wimbledon press conference following their women’s doubles quarter-final loss.
Serena and Venus lost to Vera Zvonareva and Elena Vesnina. After the match, each sister received a $4,000 fine. The total fine was $8,000. This incident is important because it was also about missing media duties after a doubles loss, just like the 2026 US Open situation.
However, the fines were very different. Serena and Venus paid $4,000 each at Wimbledon in 2010. At the 2026 US Open, they did not receive any fines, even though they could have faced a much bigger penalty.
Venus Williams has also faced punishment for missing a post-match press conference before. The Guardian reported in 2016 that Venus received a $5,000 fine after she missed her post-match media duties following a surprise first-round Australian Open loss to Johanna Konta.
At that time, players could receive a maximum fine of $20,000 for missing a required post-match press conference. Venus’ $5,000 fine was below the maximum, but it was still a large penalty.
The report also said that Venus seemed ready to pay the fine instead of talking about her unexpected loss.