Serena and Venus Williams have been given a wildcard into the US Open doubles, and will play a Grand Slam as a pair for the first time in four years.
There is no competitive case to be made for the entry and nobody is pretending otherwise. There is a different case, which is that the tournament they are being let into is the one they have won together, and that a New York crowd gets something out of this that a ranking point cannot describe.
The wildcards around them
Stan Wawrinka was given a late singles wildcard after initially not receiving one, and will play the final Grand Slam of his career. Venus Williams has attracted wildcards across the summer, at an age where each one is discussed as though it were the last.
Karolina Muchova and Jakub Mensik won the mixed doubles, and the million dollars attached to it, after saving two match points along the way.
