Venus Williams to Play Roland Garros Doubles

By Richard Pagliaro | Wednesday, May 13, 2026
Photo credit: Scott Taetsch/Getty

Venus Williams will return to Roland Garros’ red clay this month.

The 45-year-old Venus will partner 24-year-old Hailey Baptiste in Roland Garros doubles play, the tournament announced today.

tennis express pro player gear
tennis express pro player gear

A former world No. 1 in singles and doubles, Venus Williams will not play singles at the clay-court Grand Slam. Here’s a look at the Roland Garros women’s doubles entry list.

Seven-time Grand Slam champion Venus will serve double duty in Paris. In addition to playing Roland Garros doubles, she will contribute commentary to TNT’s Roland Garros television coverage for the second straight year.

Baptiste toppled former French Open finalist Jasmine Paolini, former Olympic gold-medal champion Belinda Bencic and world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka in succession to reach the Mutua Madrid Open singles semifinals.

The four-time Olympic gold-medal champion Venus will play doubles 29 years after she made her Roland Garros singles debut. Venus Williams is a 2002 French Open singles finalist and a two-time Roland Garros doubles champion.

Venus partnered younger sister Serena Williams to Roland Garros doubles championships in 1999 and 2010. Overall, the Williams Sisters have posted a 14-0 record in Grand Slam doubles finals.

The team of Venus Williams and Baptiste partnered in Washington, D.C. last summer where they won a round to reach the quarterfinals before bowing to Taylor Townsend and Shuai Zhang in a tight three-setter.

Last January, Venus Williams took a wild card into the Australian Open singles where she made history as the oldest woman to play an AO main-draw singles match.

Richard Pagliaro is Tennis Now Managing Editor. He is a graduate of New York University and has covered pro tennis for more than 35 years. Richard was tennis columnist for Gannett Newspapers in NY, served as Managing Editor for TennisWeek.com and worked as a writer/editor for Tennis.com. He has been TennisNow.com managing editor since 2010.

Post Comment