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The BNP Paribas Open announced on Feb. 20 that Venus Williams, who was also being given a wild card in singles, would also receive one in doubles with Canadian Leylah Fernandez.
But it didn’t happen.
And with Williams and Fernandez both dropping their opening singles matches, it left them with a lot of time to kill.
Why?
It wasn’t an injury to either, nor a change of heart.
Simply: the tournament goofed.
“The tournament made an error and failed to certify the doubles wild card entry of Venus Williams and Leylah Fernandez before the women’s doubles draw was made. We worked with the WTA supervisor to review all available options, but because the draw had already been made, the mistake could not be corrected,” was the statement from a tournament spokesperson.
“We have apologized to Venus, Leylah and their teams about the matter, and regret that our fans were not able to see this duo compete in Indian Wells this year.”
The two had a blast at the US Open last year, drawing crowds and beating three solid teams on the way to the quarterfinals.
The three teams that did receive wild cards this year were Raducanu – Ruse, Stephens – Vekic and Baptiste – Ostapenko. One of them would have been out of luck had thing gone the way they should.
Had they entered the tournament via their rankings, and the tournament made a mistake, there would have been remedies available. But because they were in on a wild card, not much could be done.
And it seems the WTA supervisors, whom you’d think would have been aware of this rather splashy announcement just by virtue of them … being in that business, would have noticed it before the draw and inquired. Of course, that’s not ultimately their responsibility.
We reached out to both Fernandez’s father/coach and agent for comment. But nothing so far.
Queen Vee is BACK @Venuseswilliams has accepted a main draw singles & doubles wildcard with Leylah Fernandez!#TennisParadise pic.twitter.com/K6NH1SUiY7
— BNP Paribas Open (@BNPPARIBASOPEN) February 20, 2026
The error harkens back to last year, when the BNP Paribas Open announced a Venus wild card with great fanfare – only to have Williams, who was at a conference in Sweden, maintain she knew nothing about it.
To say the least, Williams’s more than two-decade history with this tournament has been … eventful.
Williams was out supporting Fernandez with her family and team Saturday during her marathon second-round loss to Katerina Siniakova – a match she appeared to have well in hand but dropped in a third-set tiebreak.
There’s also the matter of the significant prize money for doubles at Indian Wells. Even losing in the first round, they would have earned about $10,000 US each – nearly $18,000 each if they’d won just one match.
Neither is hurting for money. Still, that’s not an insignificant sum.
And the mistake was discovered far too late for Fernandez to sign in with another partner which, with her ranking, wouldn’t have been difficult to do.
In the meantime, wild cards were at a premium at the WTA 125 in Austin, Texas this week. But you’d think Williams would have received one; she got one for the WTA 250 there just before Indian Wells, and packed the place. Fernandez could have used the match practice as well because now there are nearly two weeks before she would jump back on the court, at home at the Miami Open.
So a lot of sitting around during this part of the season, if you go out of singles early.
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