Serena Williams, the 23-time Grand Slam winner, is all set to make a sensational comeback to singles competition after she was handed a wildcard for the upcoming Wimbledon. On Sunday, the All England Club announced that Serena will be returning to professional tennis after almost four years away from the sport. Earlier, Serena had confirmed three weeks ago that she would be teaming up with her sister Venus for the doubles competition, but no one expected her to mount a comeback in singles.
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Serena, 44, will now play both singles and doubles at Wimbledon. She had already accepted a wild card for the doubles competition with her older sister, Venus.
“This is not a drill,” wrote the official handle of Wimbledon on X (formerly Twitter). “Name a more iconic return…we’ll wait,” commented the WTA Tour.
Wimbledon held open the eighth and final women’s singles wild card spot until Williams made up her mind. As recently as earlier this week after losing a doubles match in Berlin, she appeared to be waffling over the decision.
“Oh my gosh, there are some left?” she replied when she was told there was still a wild card spot open. Wild cards are special invitations handed out by tournament organizers, which allow former champions and others access to the main draw without the necessary entry qualifications. But then she mused about her readiness for it.
“Do you think I’m ready for singles?” she asked a reporter and then turned to doubles partner Karolina Muchova to ask what she thought.
“I think I would be interested in it,” the Czech player responded.
“That’s the question of the hour, right?” Williams said. “I don’t know. I don’t know. I wonder why there’s — I don’t know.”
Well, now that Williams has made up her mind, the big remaining question is how she can physically handle singles play after so long.
Serena’s most-recent singles match was a loss to Ajla Tomljanovic in the third round of the 2022 U.S. Open. At the time, she said she didn’t want to use the word “retiring” and instead declared that she was “evolving” away from tennis. Her second daughter was born in 2023.
“Just finished a mean game of duck duck goose,” Williams said on X after the wild card announcement.
Of Williams’ 23 Grand Slam titles in singles, seven have come at Wimbledon: in 2002, 2003, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2015 and 2016. She’s also won 14 Grand Slams in doubles, all with Venus, and six of them at Wimbledon.
Serena also swept the singles and doubles (with Venus) titles at the 2012 London Olympics, when the tennis competition was held on the hallowed grass of the All England Club.
At her last Wimbledon appearance in 2022, Serena was beaten in the opening round by 115th-ranked Harmony Tan in her first match since having to stop less than a set into her opening contest at the All England Club because of an injury the year before.
Serena won a doubles match with partner Victoria Mboko at Queen’s Club last week but then the pair had to withdraw after Mboko injured her knee in a singles match.
In another doubles match at the Berlin Open on Tuesday, Serena and Muchova were beaten by Giuliana Olmos and Erin Routliffe.
As of Sunday, Serena had not entered the singles draws of any grass-court tuneup tournaments before Wimbledon.
She will learn who her first-round opponent is on Friday when the singles draws for Wimbledon are held.
While she’s No. 593 in the doubles rankings courtesy of her victory last week, Serena has no singles ranking after being away for so long.
Wimbledon, while Aryna Sabalenka is ranked No. 1.
Because Serena has no ranking, she could potentially face Swiatek, Sabalenka or any other top-ranked player in the opening rounds.
