venus

A duo for the ages is convening once again.

The Williams sisters — Venus, 45, and Serena, 44 — will bring back their doubles partnership at Wimbledon in under two weeks. The All England Club announced the doubles wild card invitation on Tuesday.

Should they win for a record seventh time, the Williams sisters would make history as the oldest Grand Slam-winning doubles combo by nearly 16 years.

The record of 74 years and 303 days is held by Hsieh Su-wei and Barbora Strýcová, who won at Wimbledon in 2023. Venus will turn 46 on Wednesday and Serena will be 45 on Sept. 26, putting their combined age by the tournament’s end at 90 years and roughly 290 days.

The Williams sisters have won six doubles titles together at Wimbledon, most recently in 2016 with the first coming in 2000. They have won 14 Grand Slam doubles titles together, the second most by any women’s team in the Open Era behind the 20 won by Martina Navratilova and Pam Shriver.

Serena recently returned to competition after almost four years away from professional tennis. She will compete in the Berlin Open doubles alongside world No. 10 singles player Karolína Muchová on Tuesday against Erin Routliffe and Giuliana Olmos.

The initial tournament in Serena’s comeback was abbreviated. Her playing partner, Canadian teenager Victoria Mboko, suffered a knee injury that ended their effort at the Queen’s Club Championship after one match, a 7-6(2), 6-2 victory over No. 3 seeds Erin Routliffe and Nicole Melichar-Martinez.

Venus, who will turn 46 on Wednesday, is in the midst of her record 33rd consecutive WTA season. She has been eliminated in the first round of singles at several tournaments while faring better in doubles.

The pairing at Wimbledon will be the first since 2022 for the Williams sisters. Serena took a long hiatus beginning that year and gave birth in 2023 to her second child, Adira River Ohanian.

Many of the sisters’ career highlights have come at Wimbledon. Serena has 14 titles on the hallowed grass court — six in doubles, one mixed doubles and seven in singles. Venus Williams has won 11 Wimbledon titles — five in singles and six in doubles.

Neither Williams sister is slated to play singles in this year’s tournament, although one women’s singles wild card has not been allocated.

Anyone who thinks Coachella’s biggest surprises are reserved for Weekend 1 was proven wrong Friday night as Sabrina Carpenter welcomed Madonna on stage during her Weekend 2 headlining set. The crowd exploded with waves of cheers as the iconic pop star came on stage.

Madge joined Carpenter as a surprise guest during “Juno,” in which Carpenter reemerged in a gown that was a nod to Botticelli’s “The Birth of Venus” for a torch-passing duet of Madonna’s 1990 pop-house gauntlet “Vogue.”

The classic was followed by the debut of the gloriously upbeat “I Feel Free,” the first track from the pop icon’s forthcoming new album “Confessions II,” due out July 3.

The singer announced the record, a sequel to 2005’s “Confessions On A Dancefloor,” on April 15, alongside a 60-second teaser video for “I Feel Free.”

The Coachella performance, however, marks the first time the song has been heard in full — a fitting full circle moment 20 after Madonna played the Sahara Tent in 2006, complete with the same boots and costuming from that gig. “Confessions II” will be Madonna’s first full-length album since 2019’s “Madame X.”

• Share via Close extra sharing options

“Let’s try to be together. Let’s try to avoid disagreements,” Madonna said as she spoke about the moon and planets aligning.

Before the pair ended with “Like a Prayer,” accompanied by a choir, Madonna had another reason to be grateful.

“This is probably the first time I’ve ever performed with someone shorter than me,” Madonna said to Carpenter as the crowd laughed. “Thank you for giving me that experience.”

Senior Audience Editor Vanessa Franko contributed to this report.