Serena Williams is returning to professional tennis at age 44 after nearly four years away from the sport. The 23-time Grand Slam singles champion has accepted a wild card invitation to play doubles at the upcoming Queen's Club grass-court tournament, the WTA Tour announced Monday. The Queen's Club tournament starts next Monday and the WTA said Williams will play "with a partner to be announced in due course," reports the AP. Williams has not competed since bidding farewell at the 2022 US Open. At the time, Williams said she didn't want to use the word "retiring" and instead declared that she was "evolving" away from tennis. Williams made the announcement Monday via X, reports ESPN, saying in a statement that "Queen's Club feels like the perfect place to begin this next chapter."
"Serena brought the game to another level and it is incredible for the sport that she's pushing the boundaries and coming back," said Martina Navratilova, the previous oldest former No.1 to launch a comeback after retirement, at 43 years, 10 months. Williams, who has also won 14 Grand Slam doubles titles, became eligible to compete in February after re-registering with tennis' mandatory anti-doping program six months earlier—which is the first step toward a comeback. When it was revealed last year that Williams had signed up to return to the drug-testing pool, she wrote on social media: "Omg yall I'm NOT coming back. This wildfire is crazy."
A return on grass will raise speculation that Williams also plans to compete at Wimbledon, which starts June 28. She's won seven singles titles at the All England Club. Four-time major winner Naomi Osaka, who beat Williams in the 2018 US Open final for her first major title, was excited at the prospect. "It will bring people to watch tennis," Osaka said. "I'm going to be tuned into the first match, for sure. I think a lot of people are. Everyone knows Serena and Venus were my role models growing up, so it's going to be cool to see her on the grounds again."
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