On the 18th anniversary of when the Williams sisters won their first major title together, the French Open has handed Serena and Venus a wildcard into their year’s doubles draw.
It will be the first time the two has contested the doubles tournament of a grand slam since winning the 2016 Wimbledon title. Since then, they have only played two competitive matches on the tour. Losing in the first round of the Rio Olympics followed by a straight sets defeat in this year’s Fed Cup tie between America and the Netherlands.
The French Open was where the Williams sisters won their first grand slam doubles title back in 1999. Since then, they have won a further 13 major titles on the tour. Making them the joint-second most successful doubles team of the Open Era. Martina Navratilova and Pam Shriver holds the record with 20 titles.
Next week will be only Serena’s third WTA tournament since returning to the tour from giving birth. The 36-year-old reached the third round of the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells before going out in the first round in Miami. She has chosen to skip a series of clay events leading up to Paris because she wasn’t ready to play.
“After her pregnancy, Serena had to rebuild her body,” Her coach Patrick Mouratoglou told wtatennis.com.
“The time she lost after the delivery with all the medical issues she had to go through, was missing.
“That is the reason why we decided to skip Madrid and Rome as she needed five weeks to be perfectly ready.”
Meanwhile, 37-year-old Venus enters Roland Garros in need of a boost. During the European clay season she has only managed to win one out of three matches. Losing both of them to Estonia’s Anett Kontaveit in Madrid and Rome. It will be her 78th appearance in a grand slam tournament.
The French Open will get underway on Sunday. It will be the 34th time that the Williams sisters have played doubles in the main draw of a grand slam together.
