Venus Williams demurs on Serena doubles question amid comeback rumors in Indian Wells

Venus Williams is famous for “holding her cards tight,” and she takes the same tact when discussing younger sister Serena—especially as rumors of a comeback from the 23-time Grand Slam champion abound at the BNP Paribas Open.

Serena “evolved” away from tennis back in 2022, but re-entered the WADA testing pool last summer, clearing the way for her to return to action as of last month. Novak Djokovic said he hoped to see the younger Williams sister back on court by Wimbledon, but big sis Venus wasn’t taking the bait in her post-match press conference on Thursday:

Q. Will we see you and Serena play together this year, do you think?

VENUS WILLIAMS: I think you should definitely ask her that.

Though Venus Williams, who fell in three sets to Diane Parry in Indian Wells, never officially retired from tennis, she did take a 16-month break to address health issues in 2024, returning to the sport at 45 and becoming the oldest woman in over two decades to win a match on the WTA Tour.

She spoke more at length about Serena at the Mubadala Citi DC Open in July:

“I'm her biggest fan,” she said at the time. “She can take six months off and she clocks it clean. You can't teach that kind of talent. She's just so good.

“I mean, I keep saying to my team, ‘The only thing that would make this better is if she was here,’ like we always did everything together, so of course I miss her. But if she comes back, I'm sure she'll let y'all know.”

For her part, Serena has kept mum on a possible comeback, though she has shared practice videos on social media, most recently with fellow American Alycia Parks.