Serena and Venus Williams will rekindle their doubles partnership at Wimbledon this month after receiving a wildcard into the doubles draw. The All England Club announced the recipients on Tuesday morning in one of the most highly anticipated wildcard announcements in recent memory, considering Serena’s return this month after four years of retirement.
Serena, a seven-time singles champion at SW19, did not request a singles wildcard and the 44-year-old has remained coy about whether she plans to return for singles. Venus, a five-time singles champion, has also not received a singles wildcard. Venus has competed on the tour since her debut in 1994, only stopping due to health-related issues. She turns 46 on Wednesday.
Wimbledon had some more complicated decisions to make. Maja Chwalinska, who reached the French Open women’s singles final as a qualifier, has also received a wildcard. Despite not making the rankings cut for Wimbledon, with the deadline coming just before the French Open, the 24-year-old Pole will assume the rare status of being a wildcard and a seeded player at a grand slam tournament due to her sharp jump. She is ranked No 21.
They have also awarded singles wildcards to the veterans Stan Wawrinka, who will retire this year, and Grigor Dimitrov, who was leading Jannik Sinner two sets to love last year before he had to retire with a shoulder injury. Britain’s Dan Evans, who will retire after the championships, is not on the initial singles list, but he has received a doubles wildcard alongside his compatriot Henry Searle.
Serena suffered a disappointing defeat in her second comeback match on Tuesday at the German Open in Berlin alongside Czechia’s Karolina Muchova, with the pair losing 6-4, 6-4 to Erin Routliffe and Giuliana Olmos. Williams and Mboko had defeated Routliffe and Nicole Melichar-Martinez on her return to competition last week at the Queen’s Club. However, Mboko was forced to withdraw from their next match and the remainder of the grass court season after tearing her medial collateral ligament.
The Williams sisters are one of the most successful doubles pairings, winning 14 grand slam titles together, the joint-second highest in the open era, and six women’s doubles titles at Wimbledon, the highest in the open era. They have also won three Olympic gold medals in women’s doubles and reached No 1 in the WTA rankings.
Arthur Fery plays a shot between his legs against Toby Samuel. Photograph: Harriet Lander/Getty Images The British No 5, Arthur Fery, continued his steady upward trajectory as he won an ATP tour match for the first time in his career at the Queen’s Club, dismantling Toby Samuel 6-0, 6-2 in a battle between two British wildcards.
Alex de Minaur, the top seed and one of the tournament favourites, began his pursuit of a first title at the Queen’s Club with a solid first-round victory, recovering from a break down in the opening set to defeat Canada’s Gabriel Diallo 7-6 (8), 6-3.
De Minaur is the only top five player in one of the most depleted fields in recent memory. While the Queen’s Club has historically been the strongest pre-Wimbledon tournament, it has been overtaken in recent years by Halle, with six of the top 10 choosing to compete there this week. Of the current top 10, only Jannik Sinner, Novak Djokovic and an injured Carlos Alcaraz are not competing this week.
Elsewhere, Corentin Moutet’s behaviour was described as “appalling” by the BBC presenter Annabel Croft after he spent a large proportion of his post-match interview cursing following his tight 6-7 (5), 6-4, 7-6 (5) win over Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard.
Moutet had been asked by the on-court presenter Jenny Drummond about the 142 miles per hour unreturned second serve unleashed by Mpetshi Perricard on Moutet’s second match point and he said: “That’s so frustrating. When I had a match point, I was on the second serve. OK, you hit me in the middle. Whatever you do, you just put the ball in the court. And then he hits me 142. I was like, ‘fuck, I would have to serve …’”
Drummond twice interjected during the interview, asking Moutet to be careful with his language, prompting Moutet to twice respond: “Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.”