"Did they not ask her beforehand": Venus Williams' Indian Wells wildcard fiasco puzzles tennis fans

Venus Williams was as shocked as anyone when she was confirmed as receiving a wildcard for the 2025 Indian Wells Open which begins on 2nd March in Tennis Paradise as Tommy Haas was left with egg on his face after it was confirmed she knew nothing about it.

After the interview which was done during an appearance in Denmark, Indian Wells quickly issued a statement but this received a lot of replies of puzzled tennis fans wondering why she was announced in the first place.

“Our team has been informed that Venus is not accepting the wild card this year. We wish Venus all the best and hope to see her back in Indian Wells in the future," the statement wrote.

"I'm going to be overseas. I'm not going to be [there]... I just had a player text me today too, like, 'Can you play doubles?' [But] I'm not playing. I found out about the wild card when you guys did. Just saying," added the five-time Wimbledon champion during the event 'An Evening with Venus Williams' from Denmark. "And I love Indian Wells, I would love to be there and if I could have accepted it, I would have been like, 'Yes.' But I already made commitments," she concluded.

"How on earth did this happen???" one fan wrote. While another decided instead to take aim at them offering the 44-year-old one in the first place. "Tommy Haas - check with the player before you go announcing a b******t WC."

"Did they not ask her beforehand? so weird.." another wrote.

"'Hope to see her in the future' doing what lol? She’s 44 and she’s not even a top 100 player who doesn’t even play," another wrote.

"Truly would have paid to see the level of scrambling going on in the Indian wells offices on a Sunday afternoon," one fan humourously added.

This after criticism was levied at Williams which in reality given she had no plans to return wasn't massively warranted. She has often received barbs for deciding to take a wildcard that others think should be used for a younger player.

But as the Raducanu and Wozniacki effect of the world has shown, the wildcards are mainly outside of the big tournaments where they are for local players mainly are used to bring in big names rightfully or wrongfully that didn't get in through other means.

As Venus Williams show in Denmark showed, there is still some appetite there for her if she wants to continue playing rightfully or wrongfully and Indian Wells will also have the otherside of some fans expecting to see her who will now not having bought tickets on that premise.