Serena Williams is set to make her first appearance at the Wimbledon Championships since 2022.
Serena and Venus Williams have been handed wildcards to play in the women’s doubles event.
Serena and Venus, who both hail from Compton, California, are the most successful women’s doubles pairing in the history of the Championships.
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The duo won their last Wimbledon title in 2016, defeating Tímea Babos and Yaroslava Shvedova in the final.
Around 16 years prior to that triumph, Serena and Venus won their first Wimbledon doubles title.
Serena Williams dreamt of winning the Wimbledon singles title
The youthful duo, who had received a wildcard and were seeded eighth, began the 2000 Wimbledon Women’s doubles event by defeating Irina Selyutina and Cara Black.
The pair then rapidly advanced to the quarter-finals, winning their second and third round matches in straight sets.
In the last eight, Serena and Venus triumphed against Mariaan de Swardt and Martina Navratilova, winning 4-6, 6-2, 6-1.
The Americans then advanced to the final after beating fifth seeds, Anna Kournikova and Natasha Zverev, in straight sets.
Serena and Venus competed their remarkable journey by defeating Julie Halard-Decugis and Ai Sugiyama, 6-4, 6-2.
“One of our goals is to see our name alongside the number one ranking [in singles and doubles],” Serena said afterwards, as reported by the BBC. “That’s something we both want to accomplish.
“We’re both out to get all we can. We’re really greedy, but we’re not playing our best tennis. There is a lot of room for improvement.”
In an interview with Good Morning America, Serena identified the next ‘dream’ she wanted to realise.
“My dream all my life as long as I could remember was to win the U.S. Open and Venus’s dream was to win Wimbledon,” Serena said, as per ABC News.
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“Now, my dream is Wimbledon and I don’t know if her dream is the U.S. Open. Well it’s kinda cool and we are really gonna fight for it.”
“We have taken a lot of undue criticism,” Venus, who also won the 2000 Wimbledon singles title, added. “Everyone has a right to write and say what they want and I have the right to win as much as I want in the future.”
Serena went on to achieve her dream two years later, winning the Wimbledon Ladies Singles title for the first time after beating her sister in the final.
Venus, meanwhile, won her first US Open title in 2000.
Serena and Venus share a record with one other doubles pairing
As per OptaAce, The Williams sisters are the players with the most Ladies’ Doubles titles won in Wimbledon as a pair in tennis history.
The only other pair to win six Ladies’ Doubles titles at Wimbledon were Suzanne Lenglen and Elizabeth Ryan, who won six titles between 1919 and 1925 – including four consecutive victories between 1919 and 1923.
Wimbledon Ladies Doubles titles
- Serena Williams and Venus Williams – 6
- Suzanne Lenglen and Elizabeth Ryan – 6
- Louise Brough and Margaret Osborne – 5
- Martina Navratilova and Pam Shriver – 5
- Rosemary Casals and Billie Jean King – 5
Lenglen, whom the Roland Garros second court is named after, also won six Wimbledon Ladies Singles titles.
Ryan, meanwhile, reached the Wimbledon Ladies Singles final twice, but never won the event.
