Indian Wells issue apology to Venus Williams after blocking her from playing | Tennis | Sport

Indian Wells tournament organisers were forced to apologise when an error meant that Venus Williams and Leylah Fernandez were prevented from playing in the women’s doubles event. Ahead of the tournament, the Indian Wells social accounts announced wildcards for Williams in singles and in doubles with Fernandez, with whom she reached the US Open quarter-finals.

Williams and Fernandez both lost their first-round singles matches. The former world No. 1 suffered a three-set defeat to French qualifier Diane Parry, while No. 27 seed Fernandez was ousted by Katerina Siniakova in a final set tiebreak. They were expected to sick around for the doubles, however, their names were left out when the draw was made.

As reported by Open Court, this was simply a tournament error, and Williams and Fernandez did not withdraw. In a statement the Canadian publication obtained, a spokesperson for the tournament said: “The tournament made an error and failed to certify the doubles wild card entry of Venus Williams and Leylah Fernandez before the women’s doubles draw was made.

“We worked with the WTA supervisor to review all available options, but because the draw had already been made, the mistake could not be corrected. We have apologised to Venus, Leylah and their teams about the matter, and regret that our fans were not able to see this duo compete in Indian Wells this year.”

As Williams and Fernandez had received a wildcard, nothing could be done once the draw was made. If they had entered directly via their rankings, there would have been options.

The American-Canadian duo enjoyed success at last year’s US Open, reaching the last eight. They beat No. 6 seeds Lyudmyla Kichenok and Ellen Perez in the first round before losing to eventual runners-up Siniakova and Taylor Townsend.

In Williams and Fernandez’s absence from the Indian Wells doubles draw, three other wildcard teams were placed in the draw – British No. 1 Emma Raducanu and Elena-Gabriela Ruse, Sloane Stephens and Donna Vekic, and Hailey Baptiste and Jelena Ostapenko.

Raducanu and Ruse lost their opening match to Siniakova and Townsend while Stephens and Vekic were ousted by fifth seeds Anna Danilina and Aleksandra Krunic. Baptiste and Ostapenko are still in the draw and will next face teenage stars Mirra Andreeva and Victoria Mboko.

After losing her first-round singles match to Parry, Williams lamented the tricky conditions in Indian Wells. “Well, I think today is not the kind of day that you want to assess. The conditions are impossible. Also, my match in Austin the conditions were impossible. I have played the last two matches in very difficult conditions,” she said.

“In Austin, I refused to relent and change my game and I lost very quickly. Today I tried to adjust. It’s not easy. You can’t trust anything that you do out there. So you should get out there and play in that wind, and you’ll tell me too if you can create some magic or if you can be perfect or not.”