Venus Williams Gets Wimbledon Doubles Wildcard With Serena
venus williams and Serena Williams received a Wimbledon women’s doubles wildcard this month, bringing the sisters back into the Championships draw together. The All England Club announced the wildcard recipients on Tuesday morning, with the Williams pair joining a field that also included several other notable names.
Williams Sisters Return Together
The sisters have won six women’s doubles titles at Wimbledon and 14 grand slam titles together, and their return puts one of the sport’s most decorated partnerships back on the same grass courts. Serena is back in professional tennis after four years of retirement, while Venus has remained on tour since her 1994 debut except for absences tied to health-related issues.
Serena did not ask for a singles wildcard for the Championships, and Venus did not receive one. That leaves their doubles entry as the route back into Wimbledon competition this month, rather than a singles run for either sister.
Wimbledon Wildcards And Returns
The wildcard list also included Maja Chwalinska, who reached the French Open women’s singles final as a qualifier this month and is ranked No 21, along with Stan Wawrinka, Grigor Dimitrov, Dan Evans and Henry Searle. Wawrinka received a singles wildcard and will retire this year, while Evans was handed a doubles wildcard alongside Searle.
Serena’s schedule has already moved quickly. She returned to competition for the first time in four years last week at the Queen’s Club, won her first match alongside Victoria Mboko against Erin Routliffe and Nichole Melichar Martinez, and was set to compete with Karolina Muchova in the first round of the Berlin WTA tournament later today before Mboko withdrew for the rest of the grass-court season after tearing her medial collateral ligament.
The Wimbledon doubles wildcard gives the sisters a direct path into a draw where they have already built a record few pairs can match. Venus turns 46 on Wednesday, and the pair arrive with six doubles titles at SW19, three Olympic gold medals in women’s doubles, and a place at No 1 in the WTA rankings behind them.
