Williams sisters given French Open wildcard

Paris, May 24: Serena and Venus Williams have been awarded wildcards to compete in the women's doubles at the French Open.

The two-time champions were one of six pairings invited to take part in Paris, having previously triumphed in 1999 and 2010 - two of their 14 grand slam wins as a team.

The Williams sisters have only featured twice at Roland Garros since lifting the trophy eight years ago, losing in the first round in 2013 and the third in 2016, and have not played together at a grand slam event since winning Wimbledon in 2016.

Serena will make her grand slam singles return in the French Open, having been absent from the biggest events since winning the 2017 Australian Open while in the early stages of pregnancy. She gave birth to her first daughter in September.

Defending champions Lucie Safarova and Bethanie Mattek-Sands will play with new partners - the former will play alongside Svetlana Kuznetsova, while the American teams up with world number one Latisha Chan.

Russian pair Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina have also been split, with Makarova now joining Anna Kalinskaya and Vesnina - second in the doubles rankings - combining with defending singles champion Jelena Ostapenko.

Source: OPTA/OmniSport