Serena Williams announces return to professional tennis with Queen’s Club doubles wildcard

Serena Williams is returning to professional tennis at the age of 44, after almost four years away from the sport.

The 23-time Grand Slam singles champion has accepted a wildcard invitation to play doubles at the upcoming Queen’s Club grass court tournament in London, the WTA Tour has announced.

Williams also made a sponsored post with Nike on social media with the caption: “I think everyone heard the news.”

The post included a video of her phone ringing, with her saying, “I need to change my number.”

The Queen’s Club tournament starts next Monday and the WTA has said Williams will play “with a partner to be announced in due course”.

A return to grass will fuel speculation that Williams is also planning to compete in Wimbledon, which starts on June 28. She has won seven singles titles at the All England Club.

“Queen’s Club feels like the perfect place to start this next chapter,” Williams said in a statement.

“Grass has given me some of the most meaningful moments of my career and I am thrilled to be competing again on one of the sport’s most iconic stages.”

Williams has not competed since retiring at the 2022 US Open, but Williams said at the time that she did not want to use the word “retirement” and instead stated that she was “dodging” from tennis.

“Serena has taken the game to another level and it is incredible for the sport that she is pushing the boundaries and coming back,” said Martina Navratilova, the oldest former world number one to make a comeback, at 43 years and 10 months.

Williams, who has also won 14 major doubles titles, became eligible to compete in February after re-registering for tennis’ mandatory anti-doping program six months earlier.

Four-time major champion Naomi Osaka, who defeated Williams in the 2018 US Open final for her first major title, was excited about the prospect.

“It will get people to watch tennis,” Osaka said at the French Open.

“I’ll definitely be tuned in for the first match. I think a lot of people do. Everyone knows Serena and Venus were my role models growing up, so it’ll be cool to see her back on the court.”

Williams recently posted a video to Instagram of herself training on a hard court with her daughter: “Rumor has it that I have a new trainer,” Williams said in the post.

Williams’ second daughter was born in 2023.

Williams’ older sister, Venus, still plays occasionally at 45.

“One of my biggest regrets was not being able to play against her,” said defending champion Coco Gauff in Paris.

“It would be cool to see a legend play this sport again.”

John McEnroe said Williams did not “come back not to win” and suggested she could play at Wimbledon.

“She’s not getting any younger, but she’s Serena Williams, so I bet she’d tell me she wants to win the whole damn thing,” McEnroe said in Paris.

McEnroe was 47 when he returned after 12 years of retirement to win a tour-level doubles tournament with partner Jonas Björkman.

“Physically, I still had it for doubles, so she could definitely still have it for doubles, no doubt about it. She could win anything. [in doubles]’, McEnroe said.

“The singles are harder so we’ll have to wait and see what she decides to do, maybe she’ll wait until the[US] Open. I don’t know exactly what the plan is. She didn’t call me to tell me the plan.”

Last year a women’s tournament rejoined the men’s competition at Queen’s after an absence of more than 50 years, meaning Williams will make her debut at the historic grass-court tournament.

“Women’s tennis made a historic return to the Queen’s Club last year, and now we have an icon of the game taking the court again at this prestigious venue,” Queen tournament director Laura Robson said.

“It’s very exciting for the tournament and the fans.”

AP