Tennis great Serena Williams has been handed a doubles wildcard alongside her sister Venus for Wimbledon, which begins on June 29.
Serena – winner of 23 Grand Slam singles titles – played her first match since 2022 last week in the HSBC Championships at Queen’s Club, winning alongside Victoria Mboko before the Canadian was forced to pull out with a left knee injury.
Serena, 44, has won seven Wimbledon singles titles and six doubles titles alongside older sister Venus, winning their last title on their most recent appearance together a decade ago.
After nearly four years away, Serena will continue her comeback in Berlin – live on Sky Sports Tennis at around 4.30pm on Tuesday.
The American great will partner world No 10 Karolina Muchova in the women’s doubles against Giuliana Olmos and Erin Routliffe at the Steffi Graf Stadion.
Dan Evans, who criticised the Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) for lacking “class” and not handing him a wildcard for this week’s HSBC Championships at Queen’s Club ahead of his retirement, will play doubles alongside 2023 Wimbledon boys’ singles champion Henry Searle.
Nick Kyrgios, the 2022 singles’ finalist, will play alongside Alexander Bublik.
Murray delivers verdict on Williams’ return
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Judy Murray discusses Serena Williams’ comeback to tennis
Judy Murray said Serena played at an “incredibly high level” at Queen’s and was impressed with her performance.
“I’m not sure that anybody expected her to come back when she retired, I think it was back in 2022,” she told Sky Sports.
“She has her two children now, but she’s been playing a load; she’s obviously got herself into really good shape, fit, ready to compete again.
“I’m guessing she probably missed it a lot, as well.
“I saw a clip where she was saying that it was really important to her that her kids saw her playing, so they knew who she was and what she did.
“I absolutely loved the fact that her husband and her kids were courtside and greeted her when she came off.
“But she showed that she’s still playing at a remarkably high level, playing doubles with Victoria Mboko at the WTA event in Queen’s, and winning her first match!
“And huge crowd support there, and huge fan base behind her, it’s great, another mum coming back into the game successfully, brilliant.”
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