Wimbledon Delays Serena Williams and Venus Williams Doubles Match After Knee Injury

Wimbledon delayed the debut of Serena Williams alongside her sister Venus Williams in the women’s doubles after the pair did not appear on the schedule for Thursday or Friday, with tournament director Jamie Baker saying Serena is being given "todo el tiempo posible" to recover.

“- Published Serena Williams' hopes of playing alongside older sister Venus in the Wimbledon doubles look to have improved after the pair's match was added to Saturday's order of play”

BBC

The match was set for Saturday at 17h30 local time (16h30 GMT) against the Argentine-Colombian pair Solana Sierra and Camila Osorio, but organizers left the court "por determinar".

BBC

Baker said the uncertainty around Serena’s participation followed a knee injury during her singles loss on Tuesday against the Australian Maya Joint, adding "Todavía figura en el cuadro" and that Wimbledon expected she could play if she was "en condiciones de hacerlo".

The Wimbledon director rejected claims the tournament’s scheduling rules were violated, explaining that the rules are "directrices" aimed at "intentar terminar el torneo" within the planned timeframe.

He said exceptional circumstances such as "lesiones" and players competing in multiple draws can justify changes, and insisted Wimbledon would not have made the move if it had been seen as risking the rest of the tournament.

The official women’s doubles draw places Venus and Serena Williams in the first round against the unseeded South American pairing Camila Osorio of Colombia and Solana Sierra of Argentina.

The match is described as a return to competitive Grand Slam tennis rather than an exhibition, with the draw positioning the sisters in the lower part of the bracket.

Cleveland

The Cleveland local coverage says the first-round doubles match at the 2026 Championships was moved to Saturday, July 4, to give Serena additional time to recover from the knee injury she suffered in her singles loss to Maya Joint.

That same report says the match will be played at 11:30 a.m. Eastern (4:30 p.m. BST) and notes that the sisters have not played doubles together since the 2022 U.S. Open.

It also frames the matchup as a reunion years in the making, with the opening opponents Osorio and Sierra listed as playing together for the first time in doubles at the major level.

Beyond the immediate rescheduling, the sources tie the Wimbledon return to the sisters’ prior record, with the WTA data in one account saying they won 14 Grand Slam doubles titles together and that six of those trophies came at Wimbledon.

“Wimbledon grants the final singles wild card to the 44-year-old legend, who will also play doubles”

EL PAÍS

That same account says their last joint Wimbledon doubles title arrived in 2016, and it also notes their Olympic gold in doubles at the All England Club in London in 2012.

In parallel, the Guardian reports that European fashion retailers face fresh questions over supply chain oversight after a fire at a factory that supplied them killed at least 33 garment workers in Bangladesh, naming Hessen and BrandBox as part of the scrutiny.

Within the Wimbledon coverage, the Independent describes Serena’s doubles status as appearing on Saturday’s order of play as "to be arranged" and says a court had not been assigned.

The Independent also quotes Serena’s own post about her knee, including that she "tweaked my knee late in the first set" and would do "todo lo que pueda" to be ready for doubles with Venus.