Serena Williams, 44, picked up a knee injury during her singles first-round defeat to Maya Joint.
Williams’ hopes of playing doubles with her older sister, Venus, could come true after the pair’s match was added to Saturday’s order of play. The Wimbledon officials admitted to giving her “as much time” as possible to get fit to play the doubles event alongside sister Venus, tournament director Jamie Baker said on Friday.
“We are giving her as much time, obviously we want her to play if she possibly can,” Baker told reporters, denying that delaying the sisters’ entry could cause scheduling issues later in the fortnight.
“In terms of the days, it’s actually a guideline; that’s what we’re hoping to do based on trying to get the tournament finished. There are actually sometimes exceptional circumstances, whether it’s weather or injuries. We wouldn’t do that if we felt that it was putting the rest of the competition in any type of danger of putting it back.”
The women’s doubles first round was scheduled for Thursday and Friday, but the sisters were absent from both orders of play. Baker said “number of people and safety” would be a “huge consideration” when deciding which court would be assigned to Serena and Venus.
“Serena and Venus, they’re massive global stars, so there’s a lot of people who want to see,” he said.
The Williams sisters’ match against Colombia’s Camila Osorio and Argentina’s Solana Sierra has not been allocated a court, but organisers say it will not be played before 16:30 BST.
Sources close to the 23-time Grand Slam singles champion told BBC Sport on Friday that the plan is for her to play. It’s likely the legendary duo will be assigned Wimbledon’s biggest court once the singles matches have finished. But given the loose scheduling, it seems it wouldn’t be a problem for Wimbledon in case the duo does withdraw.
Williams hasn’t been seen on the practice courts in the past three days. In addition, she didn’t speak to the media after her single match. Tournament organisers stated she was “not able to undertake” her duties.
“Serena tweaked her right knee at the end of the first set and was therefore excused from her media obligations by the Wimbledon and WTA medical teams,” said Williams’ agent Jill Smoller.
“She left site that night unaided and is doing everything she can to be ready for her doubles match later this week.”
