Venus Williams makes Wimbledon return in mixed doubles, partners Jamie Murray

The 2022 Wimbledon Championships mixed doubles draw has been revealed and among the wild cards is former world No. 1 Venus Williams, who will partner Jamie Murray for her first match in nearly 12 months.

A five-time Wimbledon singles champion—plus six more in doubles with sister Serena—Venus was last in action at a WTA 250 event in Chicago just before the US Open, where she endured an opening-round defeat to Hsieh Su-Wei. She ultimately withdrew from the final major of 2021 and hasn’t been on tour since.

Williams was nonetheless seen around the All England Club grounds following Serena’s arrival and appearance in the singles draw, where she took a disappointing loss to Harmony Tan on Tuesday.

Cheering her on from their Centre Court box, Venus had earlier met up with men’s No. 1 Novak Djokovic, signing autographs and posing for pictures with his family.

This mixed event will mark the second time in three years that a Williams and Murray headline the draw: back in 2019, younger siblings Serena Williams and Andy Murray captured the game’s imagination as they formed a dream team that made it into the third round, pushing top seeds Nicole Melichar and Bruno Soares to three sets.

V. Williams and J. Murray will open against Alicja Rosolska and Michael Venus (no relation), with No. 5 seeds Giuliana Olmos and Marcelo Arévalo looming in the second round.