US Open 2025: Top Players Who Could Be Playing Their Final Grand Slam

It’s just hours before this year’s US Open begins. It’s going to run all the way through September 7, and there are some pretty interesting matches lined up for fans to enjoy. For starters, there would be top players in the tournament. But more importantly, many would be playing their last Grand Slam. Which makes it special. Let’s look at a few major names that fall in this category.

Venus Williams

At 45, Venus Williams stands on the edge of history as she prepares for what may be her final US Open, her 25th appearance, and a record as the oldest singles player since 1981. She turned professional in 1994 at just 14 and immediately made waves by upsetting world No. 58 Shaun Stafford.

Three years later, she stunned the tennis world by reaching the US Open final as an unseeded player, though she fell to Martina Hingis. Her peak arrived between 2000 and 2002, when she won back-to-back Wimbledon and US Open titles, defeated Lindsay Davenport and Justine Henin, and became the first African American woman ranked No. 1. That era also brought her Olympic singles and doubles gold at the Sydney Olympics in 2000.

But soon after, injuries and health challenges followed, including a 2011 Sjögren’s syndrome diagnosis, yet she kept winning. She added three more Wimbledon titles, Olympic doubles gold in 2008 and 2012, and reached the finals of the Australian Open and Wimbledon in 2017.

Recent years were harder, with a 7–29 record and surgery in 2023, but she returned in 2025 after a 16-month break, winning in Washington to become the oldest WTA match winner since Martina Navratilova.

With seven Grand Slam singles titles, 14 doubles titles alongside Serena, and a career that helped secure equal pay, Venus’ impact goes far beyond numbers. Now ranked 580 and given a wildcard, she may be chasing one last run, turning the 2025 US Open into a potential farewell worth witnessing.

Danielle Collins

Danielle Collins began her tennis journey on the ITF Circuit as a 15-year-old in 2009. A year later, she won the Florida 3A State Singles Championship and was named Florida Dairy Farmers Player of the Year. She claimed her first ITF title in 2011 in Williamsburg, then joined the University of Florida before transferring to Virginia in 2013.

There she thrived, winning NCAA singles titles in 2014 and 2016 and graduating with degrees in media studies and business.Turning professional in 2016, Collins captured ITF titles in Stillwater, Bethany Beach, and Norman while beginning a master’s in sports management. Her WTA breakthrough came in 2018 with a semifinal run at the Miami Open, followed by a stunning 2019 Australian Open semifinal.

Despite health battles with rheumatoid arthritis and endometriosis, she earned her first WTA titles in 2021, then reached the Australian Open final in 2022. After briefly retiring in 2024, she returned in 2025, only to find a rich vein of form; this year she won back to back titles at the Miami Open and Credit One Charleston Open.

She played in the revamped mixed doubles tournament with Christian Harrison, reaching the semifinals before losing out to eventual winners Sara Errani and Andrea Vavassori. Now, it’s all about the singles event, possibly the last of her career as the US Open looks like to be Collins’ final tournament.

Caroline Garcia

Caroline Garcia began her tennis journey at just 13 on the ITF Circuit in 2007. By 2010, she was the French national champion in the under-18s, and in 2011, she stormed through the juniors, reaching the semifinals at three majors and finishing runner-up at the US Open.

That same year, she turned professional and nearly stunned Maria Sharapova at Roland Garros, leading by a set and a break.

Her rise came quickly. She broke into the top 100 in 2013, won her first WTA singles title in Bogotá in 2014, and in 2016 lifted the Roland Garros doubles trophy with Kristina Mladenovic, the first French pair to do so since 1971.

Her peak years followed with back-to-back WTA 1000 victories in Wuhan and Beijing in 2017, a career-high No. 4 singles ranking in 2018, and a historic 2022 comeback featuring four titles, a US Open semifinal, and a return to the top five.

Though injuries, mental health battles, and a painful decline marked her later years, Garcia leaves tennis in 2025 with 11 singles and 8 doubles titles, two French Open doubles crowns, nearly $18 million in prize money, and a reputation as one of the game’s fiercest competitors and strongest mental health advocates.

Final thoughts on the US Open

In January 2024, Danielle Collins announced her retirement after battling health issues, including an abdominal injury that contributed to her first-round singles loss to Caroline Dolehide at the US Open. She returned for one last run in doubles with Christian Harrison, a lifelong dream, and now looks to cap off her career with one last singles run.

Garcia, once ranked world No. 4 with 11 WTA titles and a 2022 US Open semifinal to her name, announced her departure from the sport just before the French Open, stating that she just had a few more tournaments left before hanging up her racket.

On the other hand, Venus Williams, now 45, staged a remarkable comeback in July 2025 at the Mubadala Citi DC Open after uterine fibroid surgery. She made history as the oldest player in more than two decades to win a WTA singles match. At her 25th US Open, she entered both singles and mixed doubles with Reilly Opelka. Though her mixed doubles run ended in a first round defeat, can she recapture the magic from her heyday for the main event?

Nonetheless, the 2025 US Open, which begins today, carries a sense of finality and emotion for these 3 women.