Serena Williams and Venus Williams are on the schedule for Saturday’s play at Wimbledon – but time will tell if they take to the court as Serena contends with a knee injury.
Meanwhile, Venus is facing a fine from the All England Club after refusing to conduct her media duties after losing in the mixed doubles on Friday.
Serena, the younger sister at 44, returned to Wimbledon for the first time in four years and lost to Maya Joint in the first round of the singles. She did not appear for her post-match press conference and the reason – eventually – was revealed to be a knee injury suffered during the match.
That put into doubt her planned participation in the women’s doubles, an event she and Venus have won six times together.
The first round of the women’s doubles was due to be concluded on Friday but the Williams’ were left off the order of play, with tournament director Jamie Baker admitting Wimbledon would give Serena ‘as much time as possible’ to recover.
On Saturday’s schedule, the Williams sisters’ match against Solana Sierra and Camila Osorio is down as ‘to be arranged’, likely indicating that Wimbledon will slot them in on Centre Court or No1 Court – whichever finishes first.
Venus and Serena Williams are scheduled to play in the doubles at Wimbledon – though Serena faces a late battle with a knee injury to be fit
That suggests at least that Serena and her team think there is a chance of her being fit, but it remains possible that she pulls out during the day before the match begins.
One woman who could have thrown some light on the matter is 46-year-old Venus, and she was due to face the media after her defeat in the mixed doubles with German partner Kevin Krawietz.
She declined to attend a press conference, however, and so faces a fine from Wimbledon of up to £37,000.
The list of first-week fines are due out over the weekend.
