Four years after what the tennis world assumed was her final competitive match, all-time great Serena Williams is exploring a sensational return to the tour, with early discussions underway for her to compete at next month’s Queen’s Club WTA 500 grass-court event.
The 44-year-old American, who boasts a record 23 Grand Slam singles titles in the Open Era, has been eligible to return to official competition since February 22, after completing a mandatory six-month spell back in the World Anti-Doping Agency testing pool. No final decision has been made on her participation, and Williams would need a wildcard entry to secure a spot in the doubles draw – an opportunity that appears within reach, as two wildcard spots remain up for grabs for the tournament kicking off on June 8.
Rumors of a potential pairing first broke on former men’s world No. 1 Andy Roddick’s *Served* podcast, which claimed Williams would partner 19-year-old Canadian rising star Victoria Mboko. BBC Sport has not yet been able to independently verify this pairing report.
A return at Queen’s Club would come just three weeks before the start of Wimbledon, the most prestigious grass-court tournament where Williams has built an extraordinary legacy: seven singles titles and seven doubles titles, 14 of which came alongside her sister and long-time doubles partner Venus.
Williams has long rejected the term ‘retirement’, describing her 2022 step away from the sport as ‘evolving away’ from competitive tennis. What was widely billed as her farewell match came at the 2022 US Open, where she fell to Australia’s Ajla Tomljanovic in the third round. That capped a remarkable late career stretch: earlier that same year, she reached the semi-finals of the Australian Open, and her last Grand Slam singles title came at the same Melbourne event back in 2017, when she was 35 years old.
Speculation about a possible comeback has built for months, fueled by public comments Williams has made about her dramatic recent weight loss. Last year, she told U.S. broadcaster *Today Show* that she had shed 31 pounds (14 kilograms) over eight months, describing her excess weight as ‘an opponent’ that required intense daily training – including five hours of exercise a day spanning running, walking, cycling and stair climbing – plus an adjusted approach to wellness. She declined to name the specific weight loss medication she used, but shortly after those comments she became a spokesperson for Ro, a digital health company that distributes GLP-1 weight loss medications including Wegovy and Zepbound. Her husband, Reddit founder Alexis Ohanian, is also an investor in the firm. In a January 2025 follow-up interview on the *Today Show*, she left the door wide open for a return, saying simply: ‘I’m going to see what happens.’
The LTA, which governs British tennis, has a long-standing policy of prioritizing domestic players for wildcard entries at UK-based grass-court events. All four singles wildcard spots are widely expected to go to British competitors, but LTA officials have signaled that an exception could be made for Williams in doubles, citing exceptional circumstances.
‘Never say never, and not wanting to speak of any one individual player, but you will have seen over recent years that those wildcard opportunities are afforded to British players – that is absolutely my fundamental personal belief and philosophy,’ LTA chief executive Scott Lloyd told reporters in an April briefing. ‘There might be exceptional circumstances which might influence a unique wildcard, but otherwise those playing opportunities we want to afford to British players.’
Performance director Michael Bourne further hinted that commercial benefits of a Williams appearance could also factor into the decision. ‘It’s also really important to remember that we in the performance team understand that players have to earn that right. We don’t take them for granted. If we didn’t think we had a depth of player where it was right for them to take those opportunities, and there was something else that was good for the business, we would hold our hands up,’ Bourne explained.
If Williams makes her return, she will follow in the footsteps of her older sister Venus, who has continued playing intermittently on the WTA Tour well into her 40s. Venus, 45, has already competed in seven tournaments in 2025 and reached the US Open women’s doubles quarter-finals last year. For context, Martina Navratilova remains the oldest woman to win a Grand Slam singles match in the Open Era, claiming victory at age 47 in 2004. She even reached the US Open doubles semi-finals in 2005 and won the mixed doubles title a year later, just one month before her 50th birthday, proving that elite tennis success is possible for athletes well into their late 40s.