After tournament organizers announced in a news release last Wednesday that Williams, 44, had received a wild-card entry into the main singles draw at the 1000-level WTA tournament in Indian Wells, California, Williams clarified her status during an appearance in Denmark on Sunday. She joked the positive response from her alleged commitment almost convinced her to play in the event anyways. It has been nearly one year since Williams last competed in a professional tennis event.
‘That wasn’t true. No, I’m not playing,’ Williams told the crowd in an audio recording from ‘An Evening with Venus Williams’ posted to social media. ‘I found the announcement super amusing because, I don’t know, people seemed to be happy, so maybe I’ll just go with it. I don’t know. I’m actually not going. I’m going to be overseas. I’m going to be here. I’m going to be watching on TV. Sorry, guys.
‘I just had a player text me today, too, like ‘Can you play doubles?’ ‘ Williams added. ‘I’m not playing. I found out about the wild card when you guys did … and I love Indian Wells. I would love to be there, so if I could have accepted it, I would have been like, ‘Yes.’ But I already made commitments.’
BNP Paribas Open tournament director Tommy Haas acknowledged that Williams would not be playing in the event this year in a statement Sunday night. ‘Our team has been informed that Venus is not accepting the wild card this year,’ Haas said. ‘We wish Venus all the best and hope to see her back in Indian Wells in the future.’
Williams hasn’t played in a professional tennis tournament since the Miami Open last March and played in just two singles matches during the 2024 WTA season. She lost first-round matches at both the Miami Open and the BNP Paribas Open last year, when she did accept a wild-card invitation.
The seven-time major champion in singles is currently No. 975 in the world tennis rankings and her immediate and long term future in tennis remain as uncertain as ever now that last week’s announcement turned out to be a false alarm.