Wimbledon’s women’s doubles draw has undergone a significant reshuffle following a series of late withdrawals. Among the biggest changes was the withdrawal of Sara Errani and Jasmine Paolini after the draw had already been finalized, leaving no opportunity for a replacement pair to enter. As a result, Maria Kozyreva and Iryna Shymanovich advanced to the next round via walkover.

Paolini’s decision was driven by an ongoing foot injury that has affected her season for several months. The injury first forced the Italian duo to withdraw from the Italian Open and later saw Paolini skip the doubles event at French Open to prioritize her recovery.

She has made a similar decision at Wimbledon, opting to conserve her body and focus on what has so far been a promising run in the singles draw. That decision looks well judged so far, with Paolini through to the third round, where she is set to face Maria Sakkari in a high-stakes clash on Saturday. 

Anna Kalinskaya and Sorana Cirstea also had to withdraw for reasons related to injury and scheduling. Laura Pigossi and Simona Waltert have come in as alternates in their place. Cirstea suffered a minor injury in her grass-court build-up at Queen’s Club that had already ruled her out of warm-up tournaments in Berlin and Bad Homburg.

Pulling out of doubles at Wimbledon gave Cirstea an extra recovery time. As a result, she won her first two singles matches in straight sets. The Romanian now moves on to face ninth seed Linda Noskova in the third round on Saturday.

On the other hand, Anna Kalinskaya’s Wimbledon campaign has now come to an end. She exited the singles draw in the third round after a hard-fought 4-6, 6-4, 6-7(6-10) defeat to Belinda Bencic, and her subsequent withdrawal from the doubles event brought her grass-court season to a close.

With both the teams of Sara Errani and Jasmine Paolini, as well as Anna Kalinskaya and Sorana Cirstea, pulling out within days of each other, Wimbledon has lost two established doubles partnerships, and that’s a testament to how much it takes to juggle both draws. 

Yet while those exits have thinned out the doubles field, the tournament’s most anticipated pairing is still very much intact.

Serena and Venus Williams set to put doubts to rest on court tomorrow

Despite all the uncertainty surrounding the doubles draw this week, there is one match everybody has been waiting for, and that is still on the cards. Serena Williams’ participation had been thrown into serious doubt after she tweaked her knee during her first-round singles defeat, with reports suggesting crutches had even been offered to her afterwards. 

That injury scare, coupled with the fact that her doubles match remained unscheduled even as every other first-round contest was assigned a slot, sparked concerns that her long-awaited reunion with sister Venus Williams might not happen after all.

Those doubts have now been put to rest. Serena and Venus will play doubles in the first round tomorrow against Solana Sierra and Camila Osorio.This will mark the sisters’ first Wimbledon doubles appearance together since 2016, making it far more than just another opening-round match. After all, Serena Williams and Venus Williams have won 14 Grand Slam doubles titles as a team.

As the week has been filled with withdrawals and tough calls across the draw, Serena and Venus strolling out together once again on the grass could prove to be the highlight of the entire Women’s Doubles draw.