Wimbledon grants Williams sisters doubles wildcard

Femi Akinyemi

American superstars, Serena Williams and Venus Williams, will return to Wimbledon action together after they were handed a wildcard to compete in the women’s doubles.

Neither sister is included on the list of singles wildcards, although there is one remaining spot still to be given.

Serena, 44, made her comeback at Queen’s last week, four years after playing what many expected to be the final match of her career at the 2022 US Open.

The 23-time Grand Slam singles champion, whose tally in that count includes seven Wimbledon titles, is playing doubles in Berlin this week with Karolina Muchova and will continue her comeback on the Grand Slam stage alongside Venus at the All England Club.

Five-time Wimbledon singles champion Venus, 45, has lost all seven of her singles matches this season, but won a doubles match alongside Britain’s Katie Boulter at the Madrid Open in April.

Former British number one Dan Evans has not been given a wildcard for the men’s singles main draw in what will be the final tournament of the 36-year-old’s career.

Three-time Grand Slam champion Stan Wawrinka, who is also retiring at the end of the season, has been handed a place, along with Bulgaria’s Grigor Dimitrov.

ALSO READ: Venus Williams loses 10th straight singles match

French Open runner-up, Maja Chwalinska, has been rewarded for her Roland Garros run with a wildcard for the women’s singles.

Wimbledon begins on Monday, 29 June.

Six British players, Cameron Norrie, Emma Raducanu, Katie Boulter, Jack Draper, Jan Choinski and Francesca Jones, are ranked high enough to receive direct entry into the singles draws.

On Tuesday, wildcards were given to four British men’s players, with two more spots to be confirmed over the next fortnight.

Men’s singles wildcards: Grigor Dimitrov, Jacob Fearnley, Arthur Fery, Jack Pinnington Jones, Toby Samuel, Stan Wawrinka

Six of the wildcards in the women’s draw were given to British players.

Women’s singles wildcards: Maja Chwalinska, Harriet Dart, Alicia Dudeney, Hannah Klugman, Mika Stojsavljevic, Katie Swan, Mimi Xu

The wildcards are chosen at the discretion of the Wimbledon committee.

The tournament said wildcards are usually offered “on the basis of past performance at Wimbledon or to increase British interest”.

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