Serena and Venus Williams will be in the draw at BNP Paribas Open for the first time since 2001. For the first time in 15 years, Venus will step on the stadium’s court to play Karumi Nara from Japan while her sister Serena will play against Laura Siegemund from Germany.

The emotional return of Serena to last year’s Indian Well was one of her major highlights of her stand-out season. Shewas moved to tears by the crowd’s length standing ovation as she took the court for her opening match under the lights.

Venus decided not to join her sister last year but offered support from a distance. She watched anxiously as her sister played from home and her sister’s reception at Indian Wells softened her attitude in returning to the desert. It is at that point that she realized what it meant to be a big sister. It meant doing things first and paving way for Serena, something she is proud of and Serena paved the way for her, she said.

Serena told the reporters during the pre-tournament press conference that they are very excited to be at Indian Wells and she is also excited for her sister and she hopes that Venus may have the same experience she had last year as it is the only reason why she was able to come back.

“It is really amazing to be here because this somehow where everything begun for us. As I have mentioned earlier, that was such a big event for us in our careers. I remember as if it were yesterday when we both played here for the qualifiers back in 1997-1998. It has just been a place that has meant a lot to us for a long time and we just had that one memory that we wanted to get rid of.”