Wimbledon | Williams sisters teaming up again

WIMBLEDON, England — How healthy are the Williams sisters ... finally?

Healthy enough that they're not only both ready to buzz the Wimbledon singles draw, with a chance to meet in the final, but they're once again going to try to reprise their Wimbledon doubles triumphs of 2000 and 2002.

Venus and Serena Williams once were the most feared doubles team on the WTA Tour, but they haven't played together much recently. This will be their fourth doubles pairing of the season.

They haven't won a tournament since the 2003 Australian Open.

"We've had issues," said Venus Williams, smiling, as she explained why they haven't played more doubles. "We were injured and/or sick, hurt. Whatever it was, we just had issues."

The sisters don't usually play work-up grass-court tournaments to Wimbledon, and this year was no exception. They went home after embarrassing third-round losses on the same day at the French Open — Venus to Flavia Pennetta and Serena to Katarian Srebotnik.

Despite the loss, Serena Williams has, on balance, played as well or better than French Open champion Ana Ivanovic, who has seized the No. 1 ranking with her first Grand Slam win, or No. 3 Maria Sharapova.

This has been a generally difficult year for Venus, with a semifinal finish at Bangalore (India) her best effort, but even at 14-7 she's considered one of a handful of favorites here because she has won Wimbledon four times. Her game comes alive on grass. Venus will open Tuesday against British wild card Naomi Cavaday, while Serena opens today against Estonia's Kaia Kanepi, ranked 35th.

They'll probably begin their doubles quest on Wednesday, seeded 11th and facing Tatiana Poutchek of Belarus and Anastasia Rodionova of Russia.

Play begins today at 4 a.m. Pacific on the outer courts and 10 a.m. on Centre Court, where Roger Federer will, for the fifth time, invoke the tradition of the defending men's champion beginning play.

His opponent, Dominik Hrbaty, has won their only two meetings, an edge that is utterly irrelevant. The last time they played was in 2004, and Hrbaty, 30, hasn't won a Wimbledon match since 2005.

Two other high-profile players will be on Centre Court, with Ivanovic facing Rossana De Los Rios of Paraguay, and No. 3 Novak Djokovic playing burly lefty Michael Berrer of Germany.

"The same players are right up there. Novak and Rafa [Rafael Nadal] obviously are the guys who are the biggest challengers," Federer said. "I think, particularly, Rafa has had the best start ever to his whole campaign by doing the same things he's always done the clay-court season, and the rest of the year he's been very consistent."