Serena Williams withdraws from Wimbledon doubles with Venus due to knee injury

Serena Williams will not play doubles at Wimbledon this weekend. The decision came on Saturday afternoon, about fifteen minutes before she was scheduled to practice at the All England Club, and it closed the door on what would have been her first Grand Slam court appearance alongside her older sister Venus since 2022.

The two American champions—six-time Wimbledon doubles titlists together—were meant to face Colombia's Camila Osorio and Argentina's Solana Sierra in the late afternoon. But a knee injury sustained during Williams' singles match three days earlier had swollen significantly after she left the court, and by Saturday morning it was clear the 44-year-old could not compete. "I'm heartbroken to have to withdraw from doubles," she wrote on Instagram. "Coming back to compete again has been a gift, and the opportunity to play alongside Venus once more meant the world to me. I did everything I could to be ready, but unfortunately my knee just isn't ready to compete."

The injury itself was peculiar in its timing. During Tuesday's three-set loss to 20-year-old Australian Maya Joint, Williams showed no visible distress. She did not call for medical attention. She hit booming first serves and struck powerful winners—flashes of the player who won 23 Grand Slam singles titles. But the moment she stepped off court, the knee began to swell rapidly. By Friday, when tournament organizers added the doubles match to Saturday's schedule with no assigned court and no start time before 4:30 p.m., it became clear they were giving Williams as much time as possible to declare herself fit. The looseness of the arrangement also meant Wimbledon would face no scheduling chaos if she withdrew.

She did. The news rippled through the grounds at SW19 with a weight of sadness. The Williams sisters have won twelve singles titles between them and six doubles titles as a pair. They are icons of the sport, and the prospect of seeing them reunite on a Grand Slam court had drawn genuine emotion from fans and the tennis world alike. In her withdrawal announcement, Williams posted photographs of bandaging on her left knee and images of syringes used to drain fluid from the injury site. She thanked tournament director Jamie Baker and the team for "giving me every opportunity to play here."

What happens next remains uncertain. Williams, who will turn 45 in September, has not outlined her plans beyond Wimbledon. The professional calendar now shifts to the North American hard court swing, culminating at the US Open between August 30 and September 13. She is a six-time singles champion at Flushing Meadows and played what many believed would be her final match there in 2022. Her comeback to Grand Slam tennis after four years away was always going to be a test of both skill and body.

The loss to Joint and the withdrawal from doubles will sting. Williams has never been comfortable with defeat, and she lost the chance to play with Venus, now 46 years old. Yet those around her see reason for cautious optimism. In her singles match, despite the rust in her footwork and movement, there were moments of the old Williams—the serve, the power, the competitive fire still burning. The All England Club has given her team enough encouragement to believe she can win matches in the months ahead. The real question is whether her body can sustain the work required to get there. The hard courts of North America will tell.