Serena and Venus to go for the double at the ASB Classic
It will be doubles delight at January’s ASB Classic, with Venus Williams confirming she will team up with her sister, Serena, at the tournament, as well as playing singles.
To have both sisters playing the Classic is a big enough coup, but Venus sent a video message to tournament director Karl Budge yesterday announcing she’ll also be entering the doubles draw with her younger sister.
‘‘I am so excited, of course, I love you all,’’ Venus said in the video.
‘‘I feel so at home there and I can’t wait to hopefully go all the way and bring home the title.
‘‘It’s going to be tough because I’m actually bringing someone, and I’m taking all of the credit for this, it’s that Serena is coming as well, but I guess you already know that.
‘‘So my doubles partner will be there and we will play some doubles.’’
Serena and Venus have won 14 grand slam doubles titles together over their illustrious careers, with only Martina Navratilova and Pam Shriver having won more, with 20.
Outside of the grand slams and Olympic Games, Serena and Venus have only played in doubles together in three tournaments in the last six years.
Budge is blown away that they’ve decided to increase the amount of court time they’ll have in New Zealand. ‘‘To be honest, it has come out of the blue,’’ Budge said.
‘‘I hadn’t spoken to them about it and the first I knew was when Venus sent through a video and said she was keen to play doubles with Serena in Auckland.
‘‘For us, it’s a dream result and just can’t wait to see it happen.’’
This should mean that the I remaining tickets for the first few days of the tournament, which starts on January 2, will be quickly snapped up and Budge says he’ll look to spread out their appearances over the first couple of days.
‘‘There are a few available for Monday and Tuesday and just a little bit left for Wednesday,’’ he said. ‘‘If we have any chance we’ll try to put on one of the Williams sisters in three of the first four I feel so at home there and I can’t wait to hopefully go all the way and bring home the title. sessions. So that gives people a bit more confidence that if you buy a ticket for one of the early rounds, you’ve got a better chance of getting a look sisters.
‘‘It’s extremely rare and an honour for us that the effort the sisters are going to for this tournament,’’ he added.
‘‘It goes to show the relationship we’ve built with Venus over the last few years and she really does feel at home here.
‘‘Getting this video from her speaks volumes. She’s away on holiday and for her to take the time to record something and send it through to us, that doesn’t really happen.
‘‘This will be the first time they’ve played at the same tournament of this level since 1998 and now to play doubles will the the icing on the cake.’’ at one of the Williams