Serena Williams back at Wimbledon after being granted doubles wildcard with Venus

Serena and Venus Williams will rekindle their legendary doubles partnership at Wimbledon this month after receiving a wildcard into the women’s doubles draw of the Championships.

The All England Club announced its wildcard recipients on Tuesday morning in what was one of the highly anticipated wildcard announcements in recent memory considering Serena’s’ return to professional tennis this month after four years of retirement.

Serena, a seven-times singles champion, did not request a singles wildcard for the Championships and the 44-year-old has remained coy when asked about whether she plans to return for singles. Venus, a five-time singles champion, has also not received a singles wildcard. Venus has continuously competed on the tour since her professional debut in 1994, only ever stopping due to health-related issues. She turns 46 on Wednesday.

The Wimbledon wildcard committee also had some more complicated decisions to make this year. Maja Chwalinska, the Polish player who stunned the tennis world this month by reaching 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, Chwalinska 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 currently ranked No 21. They have also awarded singles wildcards to veterans Stan Wawrinka, who will retire this year, and Grigor Dimitrov. Great Britain’s Dan Evans, who will also retire after the Championships, is not on the initial singles list but he has received a doubles wildcard alongside his compatriot Henry Searle.

Serena will take the next step in her comeback later today as she competes alongside Karolina Muchova of Czechia, the singles No 10, in the first round of the Berlin WTA tournament against Routliffe and Giuliana Olmos. She returned to competition for the first time in four years last week at the Queen’s Club, winning her first match alongside Victoria Mboko against Erin Routliffe and Nichole Melichar Martinez.

However, Mboko was forced to withdraw from their 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 of all time, having won 14 grand slam titles together, the joint-second highest in the open era among teams, 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.