By ANDREW DAMPF AP Sports Writer
Even at a combined age of 90, opponents should still be wary of facing the Williams sisters at Wimbledon.
Serena and Venus Williams won a combined 21 titles on the storied grass of the All England Club in their singles and doubles careers and now they’re going for one more.
A doubles wild card invitation for the sisters was announced on Tuesday by organizers of Wimbledon, which starts in less than two weeks.
The move comes after 44-year-old Serena recently returned to competition after nearly four years away from professional tennis.
Venus, who has still been competing sporadically, turns 46 on Wednesday.
The sisters have won 14 Grand Slam titles together in doubles, including six at Wimbledon — the first of them in 2000 and the last in 2016. Their first two doubles titles at Wimbledon, in 2000 and 2002, came as wild cards.
In all, their records at the All England Club look like this: Seven singles titles for Serena and five singles titles for Venus at Wimbledon; those six Wimbledon doubles titles together; a mixed doubles title for Serena with Max Mirnyi at Wimbledon in 1998; plus a singles gold medal for Serena at the 2012 London Olympics and a doubles gold for the sisters at the same Games. Count ’em up and it makes for 21 trophies and medals — because their powerful serves always did more damage on grass than any other surface.
With their six titles, the Williams sisters share the record for most trophies as a pair in women’s doubles at Wimbledon with Suzanne Lenglen and Elizabeth Ryan, who won their titles consecutively from 1919-25.
The Williams sisters last played doubles together at the 2022 U.S. Open, where they lost their opening match. That was the first time they played doubles together in 4 ½ years.
In her first competition since 2022, Serena won her doubles match with partner Victoria Mboko at Queen’s Club in London last week and then the pair had to withdraw after Mboko injured her knee in a singles match.
Serena was slated to play doubles with Karolina Muchova at the Berlin Open later Tuesday.
Singles wild card spot left open
Serena has not ruled out a return in singles, too, and one of the eight wild card spots for women’s singles was left as “to be announced.”
Recent French Open finalist Maja Chwalinska received a singles wild card, as did six British women: Harriet Dart, Alicia Dudeney, Hannah Klugman, Mika Stojsavljevic, Katie Swan, and Mimi Xu.
Wawrinka, Dimitrov and Kyrgios
Men’s singles wild cards went to Stan Wawrinka and Grigor Dimitrov and four British players: Jacob Fearnley, Arthur Fery, Jack Pinnington Jones and Toby Samuel.
Wawrinka, a three-time Grand Slam champion whose best result at Wimbledon was reaching the quarterfinals twice, plans to retire at the end of the year.
Dimitrov led eventual champion Jannik Sinner two sets to none in the round of 16 last year before having to retire early in the third due to an injured pectoral muscle. Dimitrov is now ranked No. 169.
Two more men’s singles wild cards were also left open.
In men’s doubles, a wild card went to the pairing of Alexander Bublik and Nick Kyrgios. Kyrgios was a singles finalist in 2022.
Matteo Berrettini, a Wimbledon finalist in 2021, was left off the list despite a quarterfinal appearance at the French Open. He’s ranked No. 49 but was ranked outside the top 100 when Wimbledon’s entry list was established. Still, Berrettini could get direct entry into the main draw depending on withdrawals.
Wimbledon starts June 29.
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AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis