Venus Williams back at Roland Garros for first time since 2021 with rising American partner

Venus Williams was confirmed to play doubles at French Open alongside her compatriot Hailey Baptiste. The 45-year-old returns to the tournament after five years since her last appearance on the Parisian clay courts, and she will compete in doubles with a partner who has been in inspired form in recent months.

The former World No. 1 has played several tournaments during 2026. After multiple seasons in which she limited her appearances on the WTA Tour to two or three events per year, Venus has made several trips this season to remain active at 45 years old. Appearances at the Australian Open, Indian Wells, Miami Open, and Madrid Open stand out among the seven tournaments she has played so far thanks to wildcards.

The American has had limited participation on clay courts in recent years, and in fact the organisation opted not to grant her a wildcard into the singles main draw. However, she secured Hailey Baptiste as her partner — currently World No. 25 in singles — and thanks to Baptiste’s ranking they obtained direct entry into the tournament.

It is worth remembering that in Grand Slams, players can use their singles rankings to qualify for doubles. In this way, Baptiste’s No. 25 singles ranking, combined with Venus Williams’ doubles ranking of No. 116, allowed them to secure a place in the main draw.

Williams has not recorded a singles victory since July 2025 against Peyton Stearns, and since then she has suffered 10 consecutive singles defeats. However, she has delivered some interesting performances in doubles over the past year, notably reaching the quarter-finals of the US Open alongside Leylah Fernandez.

Over the past year, she has partnered with several names on the Tour. Katie Boulter was her most recent partner in Madrid, although she has also teamed up with Ekaterina Alexandrova, Peyton Stearns, and Elina Svitolina. This time she will resume a partnership with Hailey Baptiste, with whom she already played at the DC Open last year, recording one victory before being eliminated in the quarter-finals.

The American has now been confirmed in the doubles draw of the French Open, marking her return to the tournament after five years. The last time she competed in Paris, she also played doubles back in 2021 alongside Coco Gauff, although they were eliminated in the first round. “Queen V” already knows what it means to lift the doubles trophy in Paris, where she was champion alongside her sister Serena Williams in 1999 and 2010 — two of their 14 Grand Slam doubles titles together.

Although her singles results at Roland Garros were not particularly outstanding — at least by the standards of her glorious career — the 45-year-old’s best result in Paris remains the final she reached in 2002, where she was defeated by her sister Serena. She holds a 48–24 record at the tournament, with her last victory there coming back in 2017.

Without much clay-court competition this season, Williams will only compete in the doubles draw alongside her compatriot, refraining from singles after the organisation chose to prioritise young local players when assigning this year’s wildcards.

It will mark Williams’ return to the Parisian clay courts for the first time since 2021. In recent years, Venus had been seen almost exclusively on hard courts and grass courts, while resisting competing on clay — the surface that brought her the fewest results during her career.

Most recently, she lost in the first round of the Madrid Open against Kaitlin Quevedo, in her first official clay-court match in five years. In addition, she has not recorded a clay-court victory since the 2019 Italian Open, meaning she returns to compete at the Parisian major after seven years without a win on the surface.