Wimbledon surprises fans by giving a wildcard to a legendary doubles team making a comeback!
Serena Williams and Venus Williams have received a surprising wildcard entry to play in the Wimbledon women’s doubles. Neither of the tennis legends made it into the singles event, which only has one wildcard spot left. Right now, Serena is ranked No. 593 in the world, and Venus is No. 479.
Wildcards are special entries given to players whose rankings aren’t high enough to qualify on their own, but who are invited by the tournament committee. A famous example is Goran Ivanisevic, who won the men’s singles title at Wimbledon in 2001 as a wildcard. Serena and Venus have also won the women’s doubles tournament twice as wildcards.
Serena, who is 44, recently made her comeback at the Queen’s Club event last week, after not playing since the 2022 US Open, four years earlier. She’s also competing at the Berlin Open this week, though her plans after that were unknown until she got the Wimbledon wildcard.
Serena, the younger sister, has won seven Wimbledon singles titles and six doubles titles with Venus at the All England Club. She also won one mixed doubles title at Wimbledon in 1998 with Max Mirnyi.
Venus, 45, has won five Wimbledon singles titles and six doubles titles with Serena. She also reached the mixed doubles final in 2006 with Bob Bryan but lost to the team of Andy Ram and Vera Zvonareva.
The sisters also earned Gold in doubles at the 2012 London Olympics, which took place at Wimbledon as well.
The news of their Wimbledon wildcard comes just days after reports said they might team up with Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner at the US Open. The report suggests that Alcaraz, a seven-time Grand Slam singles winner, will play with Serena, while Sinner, a four-time Grand Slam champion, will pair up with Venus.
The US Open changed its mixed doubles format last year, holding the event the week before the main tournament starts. This lets some of the world’s top players use the shorter event to warm up for the singles competition.
This year, the main US Open runs from August 31 to September 13. The mixed doubles will happen during Fan Week and finish in three days. Qualifying matches start on August 24, the first two rounds on August 25, and the semi-finals and final on August 26.