Venus Williams’ recent comeback effort came up short in Cincinnati, and, in the process, a debate about wild cards, merit, and what tournaments owe to the sport’s greatest legends began once more.
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The 46-year-old suffered a 6-2, 6-2 defeat to Colombian qualifier Emiliana Arango, ranked 95th in the world, in just 66 minutes, extending her record of 14 consecutive losses and dropping to 0-11 for the season. Naturally, questions were raised. But veteran tennis journalist Jon Wertheim has defended the tennis legend.
“No, Venue should get a wild card. Tournament sites must be permanent. As for Venus, agree it’s jarring to see such an esteemed, prideful player lose like this. But WCs are so problematic, if a champion wants to play on and events want to reward past over present or future, let them both. I struggle to get too worked up here,” Wertheim wrote.
It started when Williams’ result prompted one fan to publicly question whether tournaments should keep extending wild cards to the player at all.
“At some point, tournaments have to stop giving wild cards to Venue, even with the name recognition. This will be her 14th straight loss. I admire her career but she is not competitive, and there are more deserving players for the wild cards,” the fan wrote, tagging Wertheim directly.
When another user asked, slightly provocatively, if the same thing applied to Rod Laver, he’d “sell tickets,” Wertheim used the opportunity to expand the discussion, rather than simply stand up for Venus.
“Players’ friends and girlfriends and siblings have gotten wild cards. Management agencies promise them to players as inducements to sign. If we want to put rules and guardrails on a corrupt system that flies in the face of merit, great. But why pick on Venus as the bridge too far?”
Williams, ranked No. 615 in the world, received a main draw wild card to play in the WTA 1000. In her illustrious career of 49 WTA titles, Cincinnati never made it to the list, despite the fact that Williams was given a direct entry, keeping what she has done to the sport in consideration. But Williams’ Cincinnati week is not over with the singles exit.
She remains alive in doubles, teaming up with sister Serena. The reunion was planned for Wimbledon, where the duo has won six titles together, but was derailed due to Serena’s knee injury. Now, at Cincinnati, the wait is over
The wait is finally over with them facing Marta Kostyuk and Peyton Stearns in the round of 32 tomorrow.
Arango, meanwhile, advances to face defending Toronto champion Iga Swiatek in the second round, a rematch of their only previous meeting, a straight-sets Swiatek win at last year’s US Open.
The larger discussion on how wildcards should be issued is a long-running debate way before Venus entered the conversation and is not going to get resolved by one online exchange.