Venus Williams has been making recent hints about a potential comeback to the WTA Tour at 44-years-old.
Williams had received an Indian Wells wildcard, or so it was believed after being announced by the WTA 1000 tournament.
However, the excitement surrounding the seven-time Grand Slam singles champion’s return quickly faded, after Williams confirmed she could not play Indian Wells due to other commitments.
With Williams still officially an active player, fans have noticed that she has now appeared on the practise schedule of the Miami Open.
Fans react after discovering Venus Williams on the Miami Open practise schedule
The last time that Williams played a professional match was at the Miami Open last year, losing in the first round to young talent Diana Shnaider, who is now the world number 13.
It seems that the Miami Open is where fans will be able to see Williams, who lives in Florida, again after she appeared on the practise schedule at the WTA 1000 tournament.
In the training schedule for Wednesday March 19, Williams features alongside three-time Grand Slam finalist Ons Jabeur on Court 13.
Fans on social media were in disbelief at this discovery, with many just saying ‘What?’ as they tried to figure out what Williams was doing at the Miami Open.
Many had speculated over whether this could be a potential doubles partnership, with Jabeur previously playing alongside Serena Williams at the Eastbourne International in 2022.
However, any of those hoping for a return of Venus Williams to the matchcourt will have to wait a bit longer, with the former world number one not featuring in the doubles draw that has since taken place.
What happened when Venus Williams played Ons Jabeur at Wimbledon?
Although it seems that this is just a practise session for Jabeur and Williams, they have once been on the opposite sides of the court before in the second round of Wimbledon in 2021.
Jabeur was victorious that day, beating five-time Wimbledon singles champion Williams, 7-5 6-0.
Prior to the match, Williams had been very complimentary towards Jabeur and said that she was one of her favorite people on tour.
Williams also praised the Tunisian for inspiring women from North Africa to play tennis, and suggested that Jabeur could be the start of change.
In response to this, Jabeur admitted that these words from Williams helped motivate her, as she went onto achieve her best Wimbledon result at the time by reaching the quarter-finals.
“I did. She’s actually very nice,” Jabeur said about Williams in her press conference. “The words she said, it was unbelievable. It made me like motivate me even more, you know.
“Like I said before, I always try to inspire other generation, the fact that what Venus says, that I am doing it and I’m doing a great job at it, encourage me even more to keep doing what I’m doing right now.”
Regardless of whether Williams plays another professional match, she will always be a former world number one in both singles and doubles, a seven-time singles Grand Slam champion and 16-time major winner in doubles.
Jabeur will definitely be in action at the WTA Miami Open, as she takes on Katerina Siniakova in her opening match.
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