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Serena Williams has confirmed her return to professional tennis at the age of 44.
Williams, the 23-time grand slam singles champion, announced her decision to step away from the sport in 2022, saying she had “evolved away” from tennis, her last match a third-round defeat to Ajla Tomljanovic at the US Open.
Speculation about a comeback grew more intense in February when she was included on the International Tennis Integrity Agency’s (ITIA) reinstatements list.
Reports of her impending return emerged last week and, in a post on her X (formerly Twitter) account on Monday, Williams all but confirmed her comeback.
The post featured a video of her on the tennis court while her phone received continuous text message alerts. The video ended with the caption ‘Guess everybody heard the news’.
Serena to make Queen’s return
Williams’ return will come next week at London’s famous Queen’s Club.
The American has been granted a wild card for the HSBC Championships, where she will compete in the women’s doubles.
Though her partner has not been confirmed, it is widely anticipated she will team up with Canadian teenager Victoria Mboko.
“Queen’s Club feels like the perfect place to begin this next chapter,” Williams said.
“Grass has given me some of the most meaningful moments of my career and I’m excited to be back competing on one of the sport’s most iconic stages.”
Could Serena grace Wimbledon again?
Thirteen of Williams’ grand slam titles came on the hard courts of Melbourne and New York.
While Williams has previously declared clay as her favourite surface to play on, her career dominance on the grass would suggest that is where she has always been most at home.
She has seven Wimbledon titles to her name and reached the final of the singles 11 times, one shy of the record jointly held by Martina Navratilova and Roger Federer.
But Williams has also six women’s doubles titles and a mixed doubles title at the All England Club, and a return to the grass at Queen’s may be seen as her laying the groundwork to grace SW19 in the doubles again.
Her long-term plans beyond Queen’s are unclear, but, with many believing Williams could still excel on the singles circuit and the US Open not starting until August 30, it is not beyond the realms of possibility that she could make a spectacular return to that competition at Flushing Meadows.
