Venus Williams issued mixed doubles wildcard after Indian Wells apologise following ‘error’

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Venus Williams will play doubles at Indian Wells after all, despite being left out of the women’s doubles draw due to an ‘error’ from the tournament.

Williams was beaten in the first round of Indian Wells by Diane Parry, but she was still expected to play in the women’s draw after being announced as a wildcard.

The 45-year-old was expected to play with Leylah Fernandez, who Williams played with at the US Open last year, but there was confusion after they were not in the draw for the women’s doubles event at Indian Wells.

Indian Wells apologized to both players, and Williams and Fernandez have now received wildcards for the mixed doubles draw.

Venus Williams to play mixed doubles with Christian Harrison at Indian Wells

As reported by Open Court, who contacted the tournament following the absence of Williams and Fernandez from the women’s doubles draw, Indian Wells made a mistake with the wildcard and have apologized to both players.

A statement from a tournament spokesperson read, “The tournament made an error and failed to certify the doubles wild card entry of Venus Williams and Leylah Fernandez before the women’s doubles draw was made.

“We worked with the WTA supervisor to review all available options, but because the draw had already been made, the mistake could not be corrected.

“We have apologized to Venus, Leylah and their teams about the matter, and regret that our fans were not able to see this duo compete in Indian Wells this year.”

Although she was unable to play alongside Fernandez, Williams will get an opportunity to play in the mixed doubles draw after receiving a wildcard to play alongside fellow American Christian Harrison for the first time.

Harrison played mixed doubles with Coco Gauff at the United Cup earlier this year, before going on to win his first Grand Slam title in the men’s doubles draw at the Australian Open.

Williams and Harrison are not the only eye-catching team in the mixed doubles draw, which also includes Maria Sakkari and Stefanos Tsitsipas, and Belinda Bencic and Flavio Cobolli.

Fernandez has also been given a reprieve after receiving a wildcard of her own to play alongside Australian John Peers.

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Has Venus Williams ever won a mixed doubles Grand Slam?

Williams may have not played with Harrison before, but she does have a lot of pedigree in mixed doubles.

As well as her seven Grand Slam singles titles, and 14 major doubles victories with her younger sister Serena, Venus Williams also has two Grand Slam mixed doubles titles to her name.

Both of Venus’ titles came alongside Justin Gimelstob, at the Australian Open and the French Open in 1998, and they were also only one win away from winning Wimbledon in that same year.

Williams also has an Olympic silver medal from the mixed doubles tournament at the Rio Games in 2016, where she played with Rajeev Ram.

More recently, Williams has played mixed doubles with the likes of Reilly Opelka, Jamie Murray and Nick Kyrgios, but has been unable to go any further than the second round.

Harrison will be Williams’ 11th mixed doubles partner, and they will take the pairing of Demi Schuurs and Julian Cash in the first round.