Serena Williams’ Coach Rennae Stubbs Explains Why Venus Williams Keeps Getting Wild Cards Despite Defeats

Venus Williams has played 12 singles matches so far this season and was given the wild card to feature. But every match resulted in a defeat, and this sparked a debate.

The tennis organizers were told to make some rules regarding who receives the wild card. In spite of the backlash, the US Open awarded a wild card to the seven-time Grand Slam singles champion. Venus will face countrywoman Sofia Kenin in the first round.

Why does Venus keep receiving wild cards in spite of not winning a single match? According to Serena Williams‘ coach Rennae Stubbs, the answer is pretty simple: Venus sells tickets.

I am going to let Venus decide when she wants to retire. I am going to let the tournaments decide when they don’t want to give her a wildcard because she still puts bums in seats, she still sells, and people love to see her play. Until the tournament decides another player is more important to give a wildcard to, that’s up to them. I was on the tennis court with her today practising. I have never seen somebody love tennis so much, and she is practising out there for hours.

Rennae Stubbs said on her The Rennae Stubbs Tennis Podcast

Venus and Serena have also received the wild cards for doubles. They have already played their first match together since Serena reversed her retirement. In the recently concluded Cincinnati Open, the Williams sisters lost to the pair of Marta Kostyuk and Peyton Stearns.

If you think she is just rocking up and playing and not putting the work in, you are sorely wrong on that. She was out there for almost three hours. She is putting the effort in, she’s working hard. I think we should appreciate her while we have her. I don’t think it’s going to be much longer. We’ll see.

Rennae Stubbs added

The Cincinnati Masters also marked the first tournament Serena and Venus played together since the 2022 US Open. Serena also paired up with Carlos Alcaraz for mixed doubles and reached the quarterfinals, losing to Belinda Bencic and Flavio Cobolli.

Carlos Alcaraz sends message to Serena Williams after their mixed doubles match

Perhaps nobody had thought of seeing Carlos Alcaraz and Serena Williams play mixed doubles together. The Spaniard played his first match after about a five-month injury layoff, admitting that he had forgotten how it felt to be on court and joked that playing alongside Serena made him nervous, which resulted in a double fault.

Later, he shared quite a few pictures from their time on court, writing: “It was a real honor to play with you Serena! [goat emoji] @serenawilliams.“

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A post shared by Carlos Alcaraz Garfia (@carlitosalcarazz)

Alcaraz’s hairstyle also grabbed attention once again. He grew out his wavy hair and held it in place with a Nike hairband, with many saying this was Alcaraz’s best look yet.

The 23-year-old also recently styled it into clean cornrows before reverting to his natural waves. And when Vogue asked him about his next hairstyle, Serena suggested he go with a mohawk hairstyle and shave it off if he doesn’t like it.

Alcaraz will face Roman Safiullin in the first round, and it will mark his first singles match since the opening round of the Barcelona Open. The seven-time Grand Slam champion injured his wrist and remained on the sidelines until this US Open.

Alcaraz will play as the second seed, while Alexander Zverev is the top seed due to the absence of World No.1 Jannik Sinner, who is dealing with a knee injury and will skip a Major for the first time since making his debut at the 2019 US Open.

Also read: Anastasia Potapova Lambasts Flight Attendant After ‘Humiliating’ Encounter Before US Open: “She Threatened to Remove Me”