Fans were excited to watch Venus Williams for the first time in several months at the 2025 Indian Wells Open, but the tennis legend has said that the wild card announcement is false.
The seven-time Grand Slam champion received wild cards for last year's Indian Wells Open and Miami Open. Her defeat to Diana Shnaider in Miami last March was her most recent appearance at a professional tournament.
Williams was among the four players who the Indian Wells Open announced had received a wild card. The prospect of seeing the 44-year-old in action again probably influenced some fans to buy tickets for the tournaments.
However, the Tennis Weekly Podcast released audio of Williams at an event in Denmark, saying the tournament's announcement about her being given a wild card was not true and she had other commitments during the event.
"That wasn't true. No, I'm not playing. Actually, I found the announcement super amusing because people seemed to be happy. So, I was like, maybe I'll just go with it, but I'm actually not going."
"I'm going to be overseas. I'm going to be watching on TV, sorry guys. I just had a player text me, going, 'Can we play doubles?' I'm like, I'm not playing. I found out about the wild card when you guys did, just saying. I love Indian Wells, I would love to be there. If I could have accepted it, I would have, but I already made commitments."
That creates a quite extraordinary situation. How the tournament ended up in a position where they felt confident enough to announce Williams' wild card when the player herself claims to know nothing about it is very strange.
The Indian Wells Open organizers may have just assumed Williams would want to play at the WTA 1000 tournament, but making such an assumption after the 44-year-old has been away from tennis for almost a year would be very risky.
Another possibility is that someone on Williams' team handled the issue on her behalf and did not realize she had other commitments during the Indian Wells Open, which will run from March 5th to March 16th.
The tournament organizers in Indian Wells have yet to respond to Williams' claim that the wild card is not true and she will not be playing. It is quite an embarrassing situation, and they will have to think of the correct way to address it.
Many fans will be disappointed by Williams' admission. As the five-time Wimbledon champion herself said, there was a lot of excitement about her involvement, and some might feel conned by the tournament's announcement.
It is now unknown when Venus will appear on the WTA Tour next. Despite being inactive for almost a year, the former world No. 1 insisted a few months ago that she is not retired and plans to pick and choose her tournaments.
The Indian Wells Open seemed ideal for her because it is one of the most significant events in her home country, but the wild card will now need to be given to someone else.
