At the U.S. Open, Latina tennis players shine
One of the most thrilling and unexpected moments in the tennis world in recent weeks was headlined by a Latina.
On Aug. 25, during the first round of the U.S. Open women’s singles tournament, U.S. player Madison Keys — who went into the competition ranked sixth in the world and had previously won the 2025 Australian Open — was defeated by Mexico’s Renata Zarazúa after three neck-and-neck sets.
The Mexican native, who is ranked 82nd in the world, previously had an 0-6 record against opponents ranked in the top 10.
After the over-three-hour match, Zarazúa revealed that she was so nervous before playing Keys that she was nearly in tears — but that she felt dialed in as the first game began.
“I’m a little bit small in height, so coming in here, it was like: ‘Oh, my God. This is huge!’ But I was just trying to focus on the court,” said Zarazúa, who stands 5 feet 3 inches tall. “I just tried to find my way and enjoy it, because I knew that when I retire, I’m going to be really happy about it.”
By securing this win, Zarazúa became the first Mexican player to defeat a top 10 seed at a major since Angélica Gavaldón upset No. 3 player Jana Novotná in the 1995 Australian Open.
When she was done with post-match obligations, Zarazúa noticed her phone was blowing up with messages and mentions online.
“It was funny because it was the first time I got a lot of followers in a few hours,” she told The Times in a Zoom interview. “It was hard at the moment, because I didn’t want to distract myself too much with social media. So I just left it until the tournament was over, and now I’m just looking at the messages and all of that. The attention was a bit more than I expected. Singers and actors and actually [reached out] and I was like, ‘Oh, this is cool.’”
Mexican actor Eiza González was one of the stars whose message surprised Zarazúa; she admitted she is a big fan of the “Baby Driver” star. She also noted that notable brands like Evian and sports networks like ESPN and Televisa also contacted her following her first-round win.
But Zarazúa didn’t let the spotlight affect her preparation for her second-round singles match against France’s Diane Parry.
“I honestly kept my routines going exactly the same. Even though the chaos was going on, the next day [my team and I] were back on the courts at 9 a.m. practicing, because that’s how I was preparing before my first round,” she said. “I didn’t really celebrate because I don’t think it was the right time. I literally stayed in my room, had dinner and went to bed early.”
During her second singles match on Aug. 28, she began to feel the weight of expectations as a sizable Mexican crowd cheered her on.
“I felt like I just couldn’t shake the nerves off. I just didn’t want to let the people down,” Zarazúa said. “At some point during the match I realized I should be doing this for me. I should be winning for me and not to please people. That’s what helped me settle the nerves and when I started playing better.”
Zarazúa ultimately exited the tournament after losing to Parry in a three-set match that ended in a super tiebreak.
“My mind started overthinking a little bit more than I should have, but I think that will help me as an experience for the next matches that I’m in that situation,” she said. “I’ve never felt that much support from the people. It was one of those days that you will remember forever, but it was also really heartbreaking.”
Zarazúa was also eliminated in the second round of women’s doubles play on Sunday alongside her partner Miyu Kato, after losing to the duo of Wu Fang-Hsien and Fanny Stollár.
When asked what it felt like to be the face of Mexican tennis, Zarazúa said she doesn’t feel burdened by the title.
“For me it’s more of a motivation, actually, because I’m a little bit older in the tennis world. I’m 27, so sometimes you really need that push to keep you going or something to look forward to,” she said. “For me to be that face of Mexico is what keeps me alive. Honestly, I don’t take it as an extra pressure on myself.”
Over on the women’s doubles side of the bracket, perennial star Venus Williams staged her comeback after a 16-month hiatus alongside 22-year-old Canadian Leylah Fernandez.
There is an over two-decade age gap between Williams and Fernandez (who has Ecuadorean and Filipino heritage). Yet their chemistry on the court did not point to that being a struggle.
The duo was a late wild-card entry into the tournament, and handily defeated its first three opponents without dropping a set.
“I feel like we kind of don’t really need to say much on court, and it just kind of flows,” Fernandez said after one of the pair’s wins last week. “That’s what I like, that we don’t need to talk as much, plan so many things. When I cross, I know Venus is behind me moving to the other corner; when she crosses, I’m going to go to the other corner. Just kind of like a nice harmony dynamic.”
Williams added, “I think we have a very similar mindset, similar attitude. So I think we’re on this wavelength that makes it easy for us to really move in the same direction.”
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But this isn’t the first time that Fernandez has found success on the U.S. Open stage. In 2021, she made it to the women’s singles final of the tournament as an unseeded player before losing to fellow tennis youngster Emma Raducanu in straight sets. Their match was the first U.S. Open women’s singles final between two teenagers since 1999. En route to the final, Fernandez beat marquee players like Naomi Osaka, Angelique Kerber and Aryna Sabalenka.
Williams and Fernandez’s underdog run came to an end Tuesday in a straight-sets loss to the top-seeded duo of Taylor Townsend and Katerina Siniakova in the quarterfinals.
Following the loss, Fernandez thanked Williams for reminding her why she decided to play tennis.
“It’s just been an incredible week and a half being here and learning so much from from Venus. I’m just kind of like a sponge, so I’m just sucking everything in and learning,” Fernandez said in a post-match interview Tuesday. “Venus playing on the court, for joy, brought me back [to] why I started playing tennis … I started playing tennis for the love of the game and for bringing joy on court, not only for myself, but also for the fans.”
Brazilian Beatriz Haddad Maia entered the U.S. Open as the top-ranked active Latina player in the tournament. The 29-year-old São Paulo native advanced to the women’s singles round of 16 before being bested by American Amanda Anisimova. Haddad Maia and her doubles partner, Laura Siegemund, were eliminated from the women’s doubles bracket in the second round by Marta Kostyuk and Elena-Gabriela Ruse.
Three Colombianas also made an appearance at the U.S. Open earlier in the tournament.
Camila Osorio lost her first-round singles match against New Zealand’s Lulu Sun in three sets. The 23-year-old player also reached the women’s doubles round of 16 with her partner Yue Yuan, where they lost to Townsend and Siniakova.
Emiliana Arango ran into Iga Swiatek, the second-ranked player in the world and 2025 Wimbledon singles champion, in the first round of the women’s singles tournament. The 24-year-old Arango was defeated by Swiatek in her U.S. Open debut.
Julieta Pareja was also making her U.S. Open debut on both the singles and doubles brackets. At 16, she was the youngest player at this year’s tournament. Pareja was eliminated in the first round of singles play by 9th-ranked Elena Rybakina. She and her doubles partner Akasha Urhobo were ousted in the first round by Xu Yifan and Yang Zhaoxuan.
Who went to the Texas ICE career expo?
(Julio Cortez / Associated Press)
My colleague Brittny Mejia wrote about the two-day career expo staged by Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Arlington, Texas, last week.
It was ICE’s first major event since $170 billion was earmarked for border and immigration enforcement in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which was signed into law on July 4. Included in the legislation was tens of billions for new deportation agents and other personnel.
According to ICE, 3,000 people attended the expo, and nearly 700 received tentative job offers. This adds on to the more than 100,000 applications that the Department of Homeland Security claims to have received in recent weeks.
The agency has tried to sweeten the deal with incentives such as bonuses of up to $50,000 and student loan repayment benefits, in an effort to hire 10,000 deportation officers by the end of the year.
As aspiring ICE agents created a line out the doors of the career expo, a group of about 30 protesters yelled “Go home Nazis,” among other things, at expo attendees.
Of particular note was the sizable Latinx representation among the ICE agent hopefuls.
An interaction that Mejia captured between one young Latinx man named Ricardo with his friend over text captured the tension of communal versus personal goals.
“Oh hell no Ricardo I thought you was joking. I will not speak to you ever again if you become and ice agent … You have a dad who was deported dude.”
ICE officials say it’s the first of several hiring events planned around the country. According to the ICE website, there is a DHS expo scheduled for Sept. 15 and 16 in Provo, Utah.
Read Mejia’s full coverage of the expo here.
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(Jackie Rivera / For The Times; Martina Ibáñez-Baldor / Los Angeles Times)
