Venus Williams will not be playing at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, Calif., after all.

The tournament announced on social media last week that it had granted Williams, 44, a wild-card entry into the event. The tournament is among the most important competitions in tennis outside of the Grand Slams.

But speaking Sunday at an event in Næstved, Denmark, the eight-time Grand Slam champion said, “I’m not playing.”

“I love Indian Wells, I would love to be there. If I could have accepted it I would have loved to be there, but I already made commitments,” Williams said in comments recorded by Tennis Weekly podcast.

Later that day, the Indian Wells tournament organizers issued a statement reversing course.

“Our team has been informed that Venus is not accepting the wild card this year,” tournament director Tommy Haas said. “We wish Venus all the best and hope to see her back in Indian Wells in the future.”

This might be for the best. At the time the wild card was granted, Williams had not played a competitive match in nearly a year. She is ranked 975th in the world. Though a picture on her social media showed her in exercise clothes and stretching with an elastic band on a tennis court, she was not inclined to actually play high-level singles, as 44-year-olds rarely do.

It was not immediately clear what the mixup had been.

Williams has played the BNP Paribas Open nine times, twice reaching the semifinals. She and her sister, Serena, did not compete in Indian Wells for 14 years after 2001, when fans heckled her and her family after she withdrew before a semifinal between the sisters.

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(Photo of Venus Williams at the 2024 BNP Paribas Open: Matthew Stockman / Getty Images)