I like Venus Williams. I suspect almost everyone reading this does. She is one of the most important players in the history of tennis, a seven-time Grand Slam singles champion, a former world No. 1 and one half of a family that changed the sport forever. Nothing that happens now alters any of that.
But this has gone too far. On Friday in Cincinnati, Venus Williams received another wild card into a WTA 1000 event. She lost 6-2, 6-2 in an hour (okay, 62 minutes) to qualifier Emiliana Arango. And at some point, tennis has to be willing to say what everybody can see.
The unlimited Venus Williams wild-card fiesta needs to end. This isn’t about her age. Yes, Venus is 46, and obviously that is extraordinary in itself. But if she were 46 and still playing at something close to a tour level, I’d be all for it. Give her the wild cards. Put her on center court. Sell every ticket in the building. The problem is that she isn’t.
Wild cards aren’t lifetime achievement awards. At least they aren’t supposed to be. They’re valuable spots in some of the biggest tournaments in the world, and every one handed to a famous player is one that isn’t handed to somebody else.
That tradeoff becomes harder to defend with every Venus appearance. Arango was around No. 90 in the live rankings before Friday’s match. She’s 25. She’s been on tour long enough that we have a pretty decent idea of who she is as a player. She’s capable, competitive and can absolutely have a good week.
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She did not earn an unlimited exemption
But we’re not talking about a player who is knocking on the door of the Top 20. Realistically, Arango looks much more like someone who could spend a lot of her career bouncing around the 100-to-150 range than someone about to become a fixture at the top of the game.
Against Venus, she looked like Linda Noskova has looked for much of this summer. That’s the problem. It wasn’t simply that Venus lost. Anybody can lose. Great players get blown out. Young players have terrible days. Tennis is tennis. It was the gulf.
There was no mystery about who the better player was. There was no feeling that Venus was one good service game or one hot return stretch away from changing the match. Arango did what she needed to do and moved on in an hour. This is where the conversation around Venus tends to get uncomfortable, because people understandably don’t want to sound disrespectful.
Neither do I. But respect for a great career doesn’t require pretending we aren’t watching what we’re watching. Venus Williams earned the right to be celebrated forever. She did not earn an unlimited exemption from the competitive standards everybody else on tour has to meet.
There are players grinding through qualifying every week. There are young players trying to get enough ranking points to enter bigger events. There are players ranked 70th, 90th, 110th or 140th who could genuinely use a WTA 1000 main-draw opportunity to change their season. Those players aren’t Venus Williams.
Alexandra Eala, right, and partner, United States' Venus Williams share a laugh during their doubles match against Japan's Miyu Kato and Liudmila Samsonova at the National Bank Ope
They don’t bring her name recognition. They don’t have seven major trophies at home. Their matches might not sell as many tickets. I understand why tournaments make the choice.
But there has to be a limit. A wild card for a legend attempting a comeback? Absolutely. A wild card for a farewell appearance at a tournament that means something to her? Of course. A wild card after she has shown some competitive form and there is reason to believe she can win matches at that level? Fine.
But an open-ended series of wild cards simply because Venus Williams wants to keep playing? No. At that point, the wild card stops being an opportunity and starts becoming a celebrity exemption. And the WTA shouldn’t be in that business. If Venus wants to continue playing professional tennis, she should be free to do it for as long as she wants. Nobody should tell an athlete when she has to retire.
But continuing to play and continuing to receive direct entry into major tour events are two entirely different things. There is qualifying. There are lower-level tournaments. There are ways to demonstrate that your current tennis, rather than your résumé, belongs in the draw.
That’s how professional tennis is supposed to work. And maybe that’s actually the fairest way to treat Venus now. Let her results decide. If she qualifies, fantastic. I’ll watch.
If she puts together some wins elsewhere and shows she can still compete with Top 100 players, give her another opportunity. If a tournament wants to give her one final wild card because it is genuinely part of a farewell, nobody is going to object.
But we shouldn’t keep doing this indefinitely and calling it a celebration. At some point it becomes the opposite. Nobody wants the lasting image of Venus Williams to be a succession of one-hour losses to players who would have struggled to get onto the same practice court with her in her prime.
Venus doesn’t need that. The WTA doesn’t need it. And the players trying to earn those main-draw spots certainly don’t need it. Venus Williams has nothing left to prove. That’s exactly why tennis should stop asking wild cards to prove it for her.
Aron SolomonGuest Author
A Pulitzer Prize-nominated journalist for his groundbreaking op-ed in The Independent exposing the NFL’s “race-norming” policies, Aron Solomon, JD, is a globally recognized thought leader in law, media, and strategy.
As Chief Strategy Officer for AMPLIFY, he leverages his deep expertise to shape the future of legal marketing. Aron has taught entrepreneurship at McGill University and the University of Pennsylvania and was honored as a Fastcase 50 recipient, recognizing him among the world’s top legal innovators. A prolific commentator on law, business, and culture, his insights regularly appear in Newsweek, The Hill, Crunchbase News, and Literary Hub.
He has also been featured in The New York Times, Fast Company, Fortune, Forbes, CBS News, CNBC, USA Today, ESPN, TechCrunch, BuzzFeed, Venture Beat and countless other leading global media outlets. We are proud to have Aron on board at TennisUpToDate, where his deep tennis expertise enriches the site with sharp, original columns that connect the sport to wider cultural debates.
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- But pro tennis, like other sports & much of life, IS in the celebrity exemption business. Do we not look the other way when Krygios throws chairs around the court or Swiatek delays play to suit her own rhythm? Are we not right now making a BIG deal about Eala .. & making light of the fact that her fans are annoyingly boisterous. & are screwing with the timing of match play? Tourney decision-makers have been handing out wild cards to whomever they wish for a long time.. to players in their country, to former greats, to potential greats & maybe there are even 'secret' choices happening.. who knows. Yes, if I were Venus, I would be embarrassed by now.. & end it myself.. But if she wants to keep playing & directors have whatever reason they have for giving her another wild card, I'm going to watch her play with dignity & grace.. & maybe achieve a win.
tennishappens15-08-2026 - I mean... what the hell is wrong with you people (WTA) and this pathetic Williams Wildcard Wasting??? THE GIG IS UP -- LET IT GO. THIS IS A HINDRANCE TO YOUNG, DESERVING PLAYERS LOSING OPPORTUNITIES TO THE WILLIAMS SPOTLIGHT SEEKERS. Same goes for media -- STOP with the over-enthusiastic BS promoting of these two. We're laughing at you at this point... except it's no longer funny.
mandoist14-08-2026 - If you're going to copy quotes from another website, you should credit and/or link to that website. Especially if you're a 'journalist' who claims to be "grounded in core journalism ethics". Be better Lucas.JohanSchmidt14-08-2026
- Different venues have noticeably had a variety of obstructions on the courts last season -- and even more junk stashed here and there this season. Only a matter of time before a career is derailed or ended!!mandoist13-08-2026
- Injuries, my ass. She's claimed injuries and been seen the next day scouring the city on foot shopping and eating and shopping. Her goal seems to have been to salvage as many sponsors as possible (even attained a couple new ones). That's been her "game" for awhile now.mandoist11-08-2026
- It’s exhausting as a casual fan to keep up with Raducanu’s “issues” but I can only imagine how difficult it must be for her to have to go through them personally. So many good players with so many injuries lately.DaveyWavey11-08-2026
- It’s amazing how this tournament just cannot catch a break this year. Issue after issue.DaveyWavey11-08-2026
- Loved this article! Huge Capriati fan since childhood and watched most of these ladies throughout their careers. It’s crazy what Hingis was able to do at such a young age especially during the Graf/Seles/Davenport/Williams Sisters era. I also (unfortunately) believe that Raducanu’s run was a weird one-off fluke… but we’ll likely never know now… Thanks for your work. Looking forward to more of your articles.DaveyWavey10-08-2026
- If psychologist Ewa Woydyllo-Osiatynska is your therapist -- perhaps another choice is in order?mandoist10-08-2026
- Perhaps this stupid psychologist should consider having a conversation with Iga. She is out of place to make such bold assumptions!Rapunzel08-08-2026
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