When will Serena Williams play for first time since ending retirement? | Tennis | Sport
Serena Williams will feature at Queen’s Club later this month (Image: Getty)
All you need to know after Serena Williams confirmed her return to professional tennis
- Serena Williams will make her highly anticipated return to competitive tennis at the HSBC Championships at London’s Queen’s Club during the week beginning Monday, June 8.
- Her first competitive matches back on the circuit will take place at the Queen’s Club, which functions as a WTA 500 event. However, an exact date for her first match is yet to be confirmed.
- Rather than returning directly to singles competition, the 44-year-old tennis legend will ease her way back into the professional sport by competing in the women’s doubles draw.
- Williams’ official entry into the tournament was confirmed after the Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) granted her a wildcard to compete.
- Though the LTA did not formally announce her teammate in their initial press release, tournament director Laura Robson confirmed she will play alongside Canadian teenager and rising star Victoria Mboko.
- Choosing Queen’s Club means Williams will start this new chapter on her favoured grass courts, a surface where she has stated some of the most meaningful moments of her career have taken place.
- This tournament will mark her first professional tennis appearance in nearly four years, since she famously played what was thought to be her final match at the 2022 US Open before “evolving away” from the sport.
- Her participation at Queen’s Club is widely viewed as ideal preparation for a potential wildcard entry into Wimbledon, where she is a seven-time singles champion and six-time doubles champion.
