Serena's daughter urged her to play with Venus at Wimbledon
After partnering with Victoria Mboko and Karolina Muchova in the first two tournaments of her WTA Tour Driven by Mercedes-Benz comeback, Serena Williams is set to take the court with a very familiar face at Wimbledon next month.
On Tuesday, Serena and Venus Williams received wild cards into the doubles draw at the All England Club, reuniting one of the most successful and dominant doubles teams of all time.
And as it turns out, it was Serena's 8-year-old daughter, Alexis Olympia, who had a hand in reforming the iconic team.
"My daughter, Olympia, told me I should play with Venus," Williams told reporters at the Berlin Tennis Open on Tuesday. "She's always right, so I was like, 'OK.'"
Serena and Venus have won 22 doubles titles together, six of which came at Wimbledon, and are a perfect 14-0 in Grand Slam finals. They also won three Olympic gold medals as a team.
"She's very serious," Serena said of Olympia's suggestion. "She knows. She's very smart. She's very wise, I think, is a better word. So I said, 'OK, Olympia, let's see if we can do it.'"
Alongside Mboko, Serena won the first match of her comeback at Queen's Club last week, defeating third-seeded Erin Routliffe and Nicole Melichar-Martinez in straight sets. The 44-year-old showed some rust early on in the match, as could be expected, but had some vintage Serena moments, including an incredible backhand winner on the run that landed just in front of the baseline.
She closed out the match with a signature Serena service hold, hitting back-to-back aces before sealing the win with a 113 mile per hour serve down the T that went untouched.
After advancing, Mboko and Williams were forced to withdraw from their quarterfinal match in London after Mboko suffered a knee injury the following day.
On Tuesday in Berlin, Williams and Muchova fell to Giuliana Olmos and Routliffe 6-4, 6-4 in their opening match.