Venus Williams looks forward to matching energies with Madrid partner Katie Boulter

Venus Williams is looking forward to another first-time doubles partnership after playing her first singles match on clay in nearly five years.

The 45-year-old was defeated by fellow wild card Kaitlin Quevedo, 6-2, 6-4, in the first round of the Mutua Madrid Open on Tuesday. The loss dropped Williams to 0-7 on the year, with her most recent clay-court appearance coming at 2021 Roland Garros.

“All these things take adjustments. I started my practice on clay a couple weeks after Miami,” she told press afterwards. “I haven't really played on clay in years. But I enjoy the clay, it's fun. I played against a very inspired opponent today.”

Her time at the Caja Mágica isn’t up yet though. For the American is set to debut alongside Great Britain’s Katie Boulter.

“She asked me to play, or her coach did. I would like to think she asked me to play, and I was happy to say yes,” laughed Williams.

“She's got great energy. She's got a great attitude. She's a fighter. I'm looking forward to playing with her because I think our energies will really match.”

I was happy to say yes. Venus Williams on playing with Katie Boulter

Boulter is the fifth player set to join forces with Williams in 2026. The future Hall of Famer previously partnered Elina Svitolina (Auckland), Ekaterina Alexandrova (Australian Open), Peyton Stearns (Austin) and Leylah Fernandez (Miami), whom she teamed up with to reach the 2025 US Open quarterfinals.

As for what’s to come, Williams noted that the Internazionali BNL d'Italia in Rome was not in the cards.

“I have other commitments, unfortunately, so I'm really super sad about that, actually,” she said. “My husband is Italian, so we feel sad that we can't be there. So we would love to keep it going on the clay.”

Williams and Boulter begin their bid against Jiang Xinyu and Xu Yifan of China.