Wimbledon tournament director Jamie Baker has admitted bending the rules to give Serena Williams the best chance to compete in the doubles draw, while also addressing security issues surrounding her appearance. The seven-time champion made her long-awaited return to SW19 on Tuesday night, losing in singles to Maya Joint. However, a knee injury sustained during that match has cast doubt over her participation in the doubles event with sister Venus Williams.
Extra Time for Recovery
All women's doubles first-round matches are supposed to be completed by Thursday and Friday of the opening week. Nevertheless, Wimbledon officials are planning to schedule the Williams sisters' doubles tie on Saturday to allow the 44-year-old Serena extra recovery time. Baker stated: "Obviously it is amazing to have Serena back. I was on Centre Court for quite a bit on Tuesday, I thought, considering she had no practice singles matches, it was an amazing level that she put out. We are giving her as much time. Obviously we want her to play, if she possibly can."
Baker described the scheduling guideline as flexible: "In terms of the days, it is a guideline. That is what we're hoping to do to try and get the tournament finished. There are sometimes exceptional circumstance, whether that's weather, injuries or actually sometimes conflicts of players playing in two of three events. It doesn't happen that often but occasionally you do get the odd match that carries over and we wouldn't do that if we felt that it was putting the competition in any kind of danger."
Security Concerns on Show Courts
The Williams sisters will need to be placed on one of the main show courts—Centre Court, Court 1 or Court 2—due to security concerns surrounding their appearance on an outside court. Despite this, first-round doubles matches are rarely scheduled on principal stages. Baker explained: "Serena and Venus, they are massive global stars so there is a lot of people that want to watch them. The scheduling is a balance between all the different matches that you have and the show courts at the start of the week are prioritised for the singles matches but we'll see how it shapes up tomorrow. That [security] is a major consideration with scheduling. Not just with Serena and Venus but any of our singles matches that we know have got a big following. The first thing we think about is the numbers at matches and the safety."
Potential Withdrawal and Replacement
Should Serena withdraw through injury, Venus, 46, will not be permitted to select a replacement partner. The pair would instead be replaced by a lucky loser. Coverage of Wimbledon airs on BBC One and BBC Two, and is available to stream on BBC iPlayer.
