Serena Williams had a reality check at Wimbledon – her comeback won’t be what you think | Tennis | Sport

Serena Williams will be eligible to return to professional tennis as soon as this Monday, should she want to. The 23-time Grand Slam champion retired at the 2022 US Open, and then sent shockwaves through the tennis world late last year when it emerged that she had re-entered the International Tennis Integrity Agency’s drug-testing pool.

In short, players cannot compete on the tour unless they are signed up for potential mandatory out-of-competition testing. Those who are retired must be in the pool for at least six months before making a comeback. And for the 44-year-old, that six-month timeframe is up on Monday, meaning she can officially get back on the match court.

But there are a few questions on everyone’s lips. Will she even come back? Should she? And in what capacity?

Serena’s older sister, Venus, is still going strong on the tour, albeit picking and choosing her schedule. The seven-time Major winner will even be in action at next week’s ATX Open in Austin.

If the younger Williams sister does want to get back out there, many – including myself – believe it’s much more likely she’ll make some doubles appearances with Venus, especially if and when Venus decides to retire herself. The Williams sisters have been a formidable pairing, winning 14 doubles Grand Slam titles together.

Aged 45, Venus is still playing doubles and even having some success. She teamed up with Leylah Fernandez at the US Open last year, and they made it all the way to the quarter-finals.

You imagine that Serena would have been watching and liking her chances of teaming up with her sister again. Venus even joked that the former world number one needed to turn up and support them in person during their run.

So if and when the 73-time title winner makes an appearance on the match court, it feels likely that it will be in doubles. Serena has been out of competition for more than three years and, aged 44, doubles would be a nice adjustment back.

Venus can take care of one side of the court, while Serena focuses on her own side. And given what Venus did with Fernandez, it’s pretty probable that the sisters can go on a decent run in some doubles draws together. They are the Williams sisters, after all.

And it would also be more fitting that way. Getting the opportunity to play with Venus again, at least one more time, seems like it would mean so much to Serena that re-entering the testing pool would have been worth the hassle.

Getting back on the singles court? Maybe less so. She has nothing left to prove, and she also seems very happy with her life post-tennis, so maybe only Venus would be the reason she’d want to come back, rather than a wish to just feel the feeling of competing in singles.

That said, there’s nothing like the adrenaline rush of competition for an athlete. It’s a high they spend years chasing, and then when they retire, it’s suddenly snatched away. And if Serena has some success on the doubles court with Venus, you wouldn’t be surprised if her mind started to wander to singles.

What she could do on a singles court at this stage of her life is another question, however. Even before she hung up her racket, the former world number one was suffering shock first-round Wimbledon losses to Harmony Tan, the then-number 115. She was also beaten by Emma Raducanu in Cincinnati, though she had one final big win over second seed Anett Kontaveit in her farewell tournament in Flushing Meadows.

Other players have come out of retirement to play singles to varying success.

Caroline Wozniacki, one of Serena’s good friends, said goodbye in 2020, had two children, and then came back in 2023. She enjoyed back-to-back second-week appearances at the US Open and returned to the world’s top 100, but hasn’t played since 2024 and has since welcomed her third child.

Many remember Kim Clijsters’ first successful stint out of retirement in 2009. She won back-to-back US Open titles and lifted the 2011 Australian Open trophy, also returning to number one in the world.

But her next comeback in 2020 followed a different path. She played and lost five matches over two years, underwent knee surgery, and ultimately decided to re-enter retirement. Even being a multi-Grand Slam champion and former number one doesn’t guarantee a successful second – or third! – career.

For now, it seems a Serena Williams comeback won’t happen just yet. Venus has already announced a partnership with countrywoman Peyton Stearns on the doubles court in Austin this coming week, and a reunion with Fernandez in Indian Wells next month, so there won’t be an immediate on-court reunion with Serena.

But she’s already been back on the court, sharing a recent video of herself practising serves for the first time in years.

Miami is looming. And, more importantly, there are the Grand Slam tournaments. Serena loves Paris, both sisters have great memories at Wimbledon, and the US Open is their home event.

A potential link-up at the Majors seems the most likely, if Serena is to actually get back on the tour. But it has all the makings of being a celebratory lap of honour, rather than the start of a fully fledged comeback.

Then again, never underestimate Serena Williams.

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