Five-time Wimbledon singles champion Venus Williams has been given a wild card to feature this July.
Seven-time Grand Slam champion Venus Williams is among the players to have been given a wild card to feature at Wimbledon this summer.
Williams has played sparingly in recent seasons and was out for six months because of a hamstring injury sustained in Auckland during the first week of the year, with the five-time Wimbledon singles winner only returning to action at a grass-court event in the Netherlands last week.
The 43-year-old claimed her first victory over a world top-50 opponent since 2019 when she defeated Camila Girogi at Rothesay Classic in Birmingham on Monday, with Williams – who has battling a knee injury during that victory – now returning to the singles draw after only competing in mixed doubles at Wimbledon last year.
Williams is one of seven players named on the wild card list for the ladies’ singles, including former British No 1 Heather Watson and Ukraine’s two-time Grand Slam semi-finalist Elina Svitolina, with one more yet to be announced.
Svitolina reached the quarter-finals at the French Open on her return to action last month, following the birth of daughter Skai last October, although was thrashed on grass in Birmingham this week.
Katie Boulter, who won the Nottingham Open last week, is one five British players handed wild card spots in the ladies’ draw, with Jodie Burrage, Harriet Dart, Katie Swan and Watson all included.
Dart and Watson have also been handed a wild card place to compete together in the ladies’ doubles, where Burrage will partner Emily Appleton. The other three ladies’ double wild card spots confirmed also went to all-British pairings, with the final two yet to be announced.
In the men’s draw, David Goffin beaten by Cameron Norrie in last year’s quarter-finals has been given a wild card to return, while Liam Broady is one of five Brits to be awarded places in the third Grand Slam tournament of the year.
The 2023 Wimbledon Championships take place from July 3-16 at the All England Tennis Club, with Novak Djokovic returning as men’s singles champion and Elena Rybakina the defending champion in the ladies’ draw.
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