Serena Williams to return at Queen's Club in doubles

LONDON: Serena Williams has confirmed she will return to competitive tennis after an absence of nearly four years, with the American set to play women's doubles at Queen's Club next week.

The 44-year-old has not competed since the 2022 US Open and has received a wild card for the London event, which begins on June 8. Williams is expected to partner teenage Canadian Victoria Mboko.

Williams signalled the news on social media by posting a video of herself on court as her phone repeatedly buzzed, alongside the caption: Guess everybody heard the news. In a separate post, she added: Good news travels fast.

In a statement released by organisers, Williams said Queen's offered the right setting for her comeback.

"Queen's Club feels like the perfect place to begin this next chapter,"

Grass has given me some of the most meaningful moments of my career, and I'm excited to be back competing on one of the sport's most iconic stages.

Tournament officials described her comeback as one of the biggest sporting moments of the year so far. Queen's WTA tournament director Laura Robson called Williams one of the greatest athletes the world has ever seen.

Speculation over comeback

Talk of a return had been building for months after it emerged in December that Williams had re-entered the anti-doping programme, which is required for players seeking to compete on the tour again. Although she had denied planning a competitive comeback, speculation persisted.

In March, Novak Djokovic said he expected Williams to return, and several players have discussed the possibility during the French Open. Coco Gauff, who exited in the third round at Roland Garros on Saturday, said she would love to play Williams for the first time.

Martina Navratilova, who herself returned to the sport at 43, welcomed the development.

"Serena brought the game to another level and it is incredible for the sport that she's pushing the boundaries and coming back,"

To many of the younger players, they never had the opportunity to play her. Some may have never watched her on television so this will be a new and exciting experience.

Career record and next steps

Williams owns 23 Grand Slam singles titles and remains one short of the all-time record of 24 major singles crowns jointly held by Margaret Court and Novak Djokovic. Her last singles Grand Slam title came at the Australian Open in 2017.

The seven-time Wimbledon champion spent 319 weeks as world number one and won 73 WTA Tour singles titles. She also claimed 14 Grand Slam doubles titles with her older sister Venus Williams, who returned from a 16-month break from professional tennis last year.

When she stepped away from the sport in 2022, Williams did not describe it as retirement, saying instead that she was evolving away from tennis. Since then, she has largely remained distant from the tour, gave birth to a second daughter in 2023, and focused on business ventures through Serena Ventures while also holding stakes in several sports teams.

Wimbledon begins at the end of June, though it remains unclear whether Williams would enter there in singles or doubles. John McEnroe said on TNT Sports that he was semi-shocked by her decision, but added that the logical next step would be a singles appearance at the grass-court Grand Slam.

"She's not coming back as 'I'm happy to play and it's fun' — she wants to go win another major,"

That's the only reason that I can think that Serena Williams will want to play tennis again.

Williams has earned nearly $95 million in prize money and is believed to be the highest-paid woman athlete of all time.