This article was originally published on www.si.com as Venus Williams Earns Wild-Card Bid for 25th U.S. Open. Venus Williams will be competing in her 25th U.S. Open next month at Flushing Meadows after she earned a wild-card entry for mixed doubles. She made her U.S. Open debut back in 1997.

I had to come back for the insurance,” Williams, 45, said this week after beating Peyton Stearns — 22 years her junior — at the Mubadala Citi DC Open in Washington, D.C. “They informed me this year that I’m on COBRA,