Former champions Venus Williams and Andy Murray are included in the original Wimbledon wildcard list

Venus Williams and Andy Murray were announced on the original Wimbledon wildcard list on Wednesday for this month’s Grand Slam event in Grasscourt. Both players are former champions and an All-England club: American Williams has won Wimbledon five times, and Briton Murray has won it twice.

Williams, who will turn 41 on Thursday, has slipped to 103rd in the women’s world rankings. She has not made it past the opening round at any tournament since reaching the second round of the Australian Open in February.

Meanwhile, Murray won the title in 2013 and 2016 but is currently ranked 124th having endured a spate of injuries in the past few years. Murray underwent hip resurfacing surgery in January 2019 and his comeback has also been complicated by niggling injuries which have limited his participation in tournaments.

The 34-year-old made an emotional return to playing on grass after three years on Monday when he defeated Frenchman Benoit Paire 6-3 6-2 at the Queen’s Club championships. It was Murray’s first match victory in over a year and his last grass court tournament appearance came at Eastbourne in 2018. Murray’s last match was a loss to No. 8 Andrey Rublev of Russia in March, and his last match win came in the first round of the 2020 US Open, where he came back from two sets down to narrowly defeat Yoshihito Nishioka of Japan.