One of tennis’ most decorated players of all time will be making a comeback after almost three-and-a-half years away during the grass swing, with a Wimbledon appearance extremely likely.
Serena Williams has been issued a wildcard for the HSBC Championships in London, which is the first tournament to officially confirm her comeback. There has been speculation that the 23-time Grand Slam champion will be resuming her career ever since it was confirmed she re-entered the anti-doping testing system at the end of last season. A step every player must take to make them eligible to play on the Tour.
The 44-year-old has been handed a wildcard for the doubles event where she is expected to play alongside Canada’s Victoria Mboko, who grew up idolising the American. Williams last played at the 2022 US Open, where she reached the third round.
“The Queen returns! Serena Williams is back and set for doubles at the HSBC Championships,” tournament organisers wrote on social media.
Williams’ comeback announcement has been carefully orchestrated. Coinciding with the social media posts from Queen’s, she uploaded a video (in partnership with Nike) on her own account hinting at her return. In it, she is seen on a tennis court wearing a Nike outfit with her phone receiving endless notifications. Then the sentence ‘guess everybody heard the news’ is shown.
“Serena Williams is one of the greatest athletes the world has ever seen, and we’re delighted that she will be making her return to tennis at the LTA’s HSBC Championships,” tournament director Laura Robson said in a statement.
“Women’s tennis made a historic return to The Queen’s Club last year, and now we have an icon of the game stepping back on to court at this prestigious venue – it’s very exciting for the tournament and the fans.”
As it currently stands, Williams’ return has only been linked to doubles, but this doesn’t mean that she will not also have a go at singles. At the age of 44, it will be a big test of how she will fare on the Tour again. According to the WTA rankings, the only player older than her on the list is sister, Venus.
Williams has won 96 WTA titles during her career, with 73 of those being in singles. She is a seven-time champion at both the Australian Open and Wimbledon, a six-time US Open champion and a three-time French Open champion. She has spent a total of 319 weeks as world No.1, which is the third-highest in history.
