Tennis Canada closed its women’s singles wild-card allocation for the National Bank Open on Sunday, awarding the final two main-draw invitations to Carol Zhao and Ariana Arseneault and confirming that Serena Williams will not return to singles competition in Toronto.
The pair join Venus Williams, Bianca Andreescu, Cadence Brace, Kayla Cross, Rebecca Marino and Katherine Sebov on a list of eight wild cards, seven of them Canadian. The main draw at Sobeys Stadium begins Saturday, with the Toronto draw ceremony set for Friday and play spread across a 12-day format. Williams does not hold a ranking that would permit direct entry into a WTA 1000 main draw, so an invitation was her only route in. With all eight now allocated, that route is closed.
What the tournament said. Valérie Tétreault, vice-president of communications at Tennis Canada and the Toronto tournament director, told L’Équipe on July 22 that talks with the player’s team were continuing and her recovery was being monitored daily. “For now, no final decision has been made,” she said, adding that all options remained on the table. That remains the last on-record tournament comment about her participation. Sunday’s announcement made no reference to Williams; Noelle van Lottum, Tennis Canada’s head of women’s tennis, framed the final two invitations around the strength of the Canadian contingent, noting the federation was “delighted to award main-draw wild cards to Ariana and Carol.”
What has not been said. No statement has been issued by Williams or her representatives, and Tennis Canada has not described an invitation as having been extended and refused. Some coverage has characterised the outcome as a declined offer. Nothing on the record supports that framing. The verifiable sequence is narrower: the tournament kept its options open on July 22, then gave its last two singles wild cards to Canadian players four days later.
The injury context. Williams hurt her right knee during a first-round loss to Maya Joint at Wimbledon on July 1, her first singles match since 2022, and withdrew from the doubles event she had been due to play with her sister. No fresh setback has been reported since. Her most recent public comment on the knee, made this month, indicated improvement rather than a new problem.
What is left of the runway. The Cincinnati Open runs from August 11, with main-draw play beginning August 13 and finals weekend on August 22 and 23. Its published entry list covers the entire top 10 and 75 of the top 77 in the WTA rankings; Williams is not among the direct entries, and the tournament has not announced main-draw wild cards. The US Open singles main draw begins August 30, with direct entry cut at No. 102 on the July 20 rankings. Williams does not appear on that entry list either, leaving a USTA wild card as her route into Flushing Meadows. Those two allocations are now the only remaining paths to a competitive hard-court singles match before New York — the scenario mapped out when three wild-card routes were still open to her.
Commentary, not confirmation. Jon Wertheim reported on July 13 that both sisters were expected in Toronto and that “Cincinnati is entirely possible as a next stop.” The first half of that has since been overtaken by events, and the second was offered before the Cincinnati field was published. It remains commentary rather than confirmed entry.
Doubles. Tennis Canada announced doubles wild cards alongside the singles allocation, pairing Leylah Annie Fernandez with her sister Bianca Jolie Fernandez and Andreescu with Cross. Williams was not among them. Whether further doubles invitations remain available has not been stated, so a low-load return in that draw cannot be ruled out on the record — but it is no longer simply an open door.
The practical effect is a divergence between two summers that had been moving in parallel. Venus Williams holds a Toronto main-draw place and has been building a doubles schedule through the American swing. Serena, four years on from her last competitive season and one match into a comeback, arrives at the start of the hard-court swing with no scheduled tennis and a single tournament left that could give her one. The comeback is not over. Its preparation window is now measured in days rather than weeks.
Related coverage: The Williams sisters and their impact on professional tennis and what the medication rules actually say.
