Rennae Stubbs has defended Venus Williams amid backlash that the 46-year-old should not keep receiving singles wildcards.

The seven-time major winner was one of the eight women’s players given a wildcard at this year’s US Open despite losing all 10 of her matches this season.

The veteran is on a 13-match losing streak, with her last victory in the singles coming back in July 2025 at the Washington Open.

That has led many tennis fans to call for tournament organisers to stop handing Venus this honour and give it to more ‘deserving’ recipients.

Ahead of her first-round contest against fellow American wildcard Sofia Kenin, Serena Williams‘ coach Stubbs has stressed that Venus still puts “bums on seats” and is a big drawcard for many tournaments.

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The Australian, who has won six Grand Slams in doubles tournaments, also revealed that she cannot recall another player having as much love for the game as Venus does.

Stubbs said on her podcast, “I am going to let Venus decide when she wants to retire, I am going to let the tournaments decide when they don’t want to give her a wildcard because she still puts bums in seats, she still sells and people love to see her play.

“Until the tournament decides another player is more important to give a wildcard to, that’s up to them. I was on the tennis court with her today practising. I have never seen somebody love tennis so much and she is practising out there for hours.

“If you think she is just rocking up and playing and not putting the work in, you are sorely wrong on that. She was out there for almost three hours. She is putting the effort in, she’s working hard, I think we should appreciate her while we have her. I don’t think it’s going to be much longer; we’ll see.”

Stubbs added that Venus still hits the ball “unbelievably” well and that in Cincinnati, there were huge queues outside of the court she was playing on; in sharp contrast to Alexander Zverev duking it out in front of “half a stadium”.

And until the “supply and demand” drops off, Stubbs thinks Venus will continue to be given wildcards. But as she says, her retirement cannot be too far off.

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