{"id":11482,"date":"2026-06-02T04:03:12","date_gmt":"2026-06-02T04:03:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=11482"},"modified":"2026-06-02T04:03:12","modified_gmt":"2026-06-02T04:03:12","slug":"serena-williams-is-returning-to-pro-tennis-at-age-44","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=11482","title":{"rendered":"Serena Williams is returning to pro tennis at age 44"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

By ANDREW DAMPF<\/strong> AP Sports Writer<\/p>\n

PARIS \u2014 Serena Williams is returning to professional tennis at age 44 after nearly four years away from the sport, returning to the sport she dominated for two decades before famously \u201cevolving\u201d away from the daily grind of competition.<\/p>\n

First up for the 23-time Grand Slam singles champion is the doubles tournament at Queen\u2019s Club. But Wimbledon and the U.S. Open could be next.<\/p>\n

Read more Dodgers\u2019 Andy Pages having \u2018overlooked\u2019 All-Star-worthy season<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cIt seems like she\u2019s trying to work her way up maybe to the U.S. Open, and those fans would be so ready to see her back on a singles court there,\u201d former No. 1 Lindsay Davenport said at the\u00a0French Open\u00a0after the WTA Tour announced Monday that Williams has accepted a wild-card invitation to play doubles at next week\u2019s grass-court tournament in London.<\/p>\n

Williams also made a post on social media with the caption, \u201cGuess everybody heard the news.\u201d The post had a video with her phone ringing, during which she said, \u201cI gotta change my number.\u201d<\/p>\n

Williams won seven Wimbledon titles and six at the U.S. Open before stepping away from the game in 2022. In doubles, she won six titles at Wimbledon and two at the U.S. Open \u2013 all with her older sister Venus Williams.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s a legend. It\u2019s inspiring to see,\u201d top-ranked Aryna Sabalenka said. \u201cI\u2019m excited to see her play and probably face her. \u2026 It\u2019s very good news for tennis.\u201d<\/p>\n

John McEnroe suggested Williams could compete in singles at Wimbledon, which starts June 28.<\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s not getting any younger but she\u2019s Serena Williams so I bet you she would tell me about wanting to win the whole damn thing,\u201d McEnroe said in Paris.<\/p>\n

The Queen\u2019s Club tournament starts next Monday and the WTA said Williams will play \u201cwith a partner to be announced in due course.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cQueen\u2019s Club feels like the perfect place to begin this next chapter,\u201d Williams said in a statement. \u201cGrass has given me some of the most meaningful moments of my career and I\u2019m excited to be back competing on one of the sport\u2019s most iconic stages.\u201d<\/p>\n

Williams has not competed since bidding farewell at the 2022 U.S. Open. At the time, Williams said she didn\u2019t want to use the word \u201cretiring\u201d and instead declared that she was \u201cevolving\u201d away from tennis.<\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

\u201cSerena brought the game to another level and it is incredible for the sport that she\u2019s pushing the boundaries and coming back,\u201d said Martina Navratilova, the previous oldest former No. 1 to launch a comeback, at 43 years, 10 months.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo 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,\u201d Navratilova said.<\/p>\n

Davenport said some current women\u2019s players went down to Florida to practice with Williams recently.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think anyone\u2019s admitted to that, but I do know that some of them were,\u201d Davenport said. \u201cSo I think she has kind of a handle on where the level is. But I don\u2019t know if she\u2019s been playing a two-hour singles match, right? We\u2019ll have to see how she can handle that physically.\u201d<\/p>\n

Williams, who has also won 14 Grand Slam doubles titles, became eligible to compete in February after re-registering with tennis\u2019 mandatory anti-doping program six months earlier \u2013 which is the first step toward a comeback.<\/p>\n

Four-time major winner Naomi Osaka, who beat Williams in the 2018 U.S. Open final for her first major title, was excited at the prospect.<\/p>\n

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\u201cIt will bring people to watch tennis,\u201d Osaka said Thursday at the French Open. \u201cI\u2019m going to be tuned into the first match, for sure. I think a lot of people are. Everyone knows Serena and Venus were my role models growing up, so it\u2019s going to be cool to see her on the grounds again.\u201d<\/p>\n

Williams recently posted a video on Instagram showing herself training on a hard court with her daughter: \u201cRumor has it\u2026I got a new trainer,\u201d Williams said in the post.<\/p>\n

Williams\u2019 second daughter was born in 2023.<\/p>\n

When it was revealed last year that Williams had signed up to return to the drug-testing pool, she wrote on social media: \u201cOmg yall I\u2019m NOT coming back. This wildfire is crazy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gauff never got to play Williams<\/h4>\n

\u201cOne of my biggest regrets was not being able to play her,\u201d defending French Open champion Coco Gauff said in Paris. \u201cIt would be cool for this sport to have a legend back playing.\u201d<\/p>\n

American player, Iva Jovic, 18, also sounded thrilled.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s amazing. It\u2019s really cool,\u201d she said. \u201cI have never seen Serena in real life. Obviously I grew up watching her. In my entire childhood she was dominating tennis, so it\u2019s going to be incredible.\u201d<\/p>\n

Like Osaka, she thinks it will boost tennis in general.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s going to make a lot of headlines and it\u2019s something that people are going to talk about,\u201d Jovic said.<\/p>\n

Added fellow American player Madison Keys, \u201cSerena Williams playing tennis is only good for tennis. Let\u2019s be real. We all want to watch Serena play tennis.<\/p>\n

\u201cI mean, you literally get to watch history every single time she takes the court,\u201d Keys added. \u201cSo why not watch more?\u201d<\/p>\n

WTA chair Valerie Camillo said that \u201cSerena is one of the greatest athletes of all-time, with a legacy that extends far beyond the court.<\/p>\n

\u201cHer return is an expression of her passion for competition and I cannot wait to see her face a new generation of top players,\u201d Camillo added. \u201cSerena is not just a great champion. She\u2019s a successful entrepreneur, a powerful advocate for the issues that matter \u2013 and one of the most iconic women in the world. We are thrilled to welcome her back to the WTA Tour at this hugely exciting moment for women\u2019s tennis.\u201d<\/p>\n

Staying competitive longer<\/h4>\n

Davenport noted how Novak Djokovic is still competitive at 39 \u2013 having recently pushed 19-year-old Joao Fonseca to five sets before getting beaten in the third round in Paris.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not going to be easy. If anyone could do it, certainly it could be her,\u201d Davenport said of Williams. \u201cWe\u2019re seeing kind of an unprecedented time with players and how they train now, being able to play better longer, play at a level that we never expected.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe always looks in incredible shape; and better shape than arguably when she left.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Williams\u2019 big serve automatically gives her an advantage on grass, it\u2019s a surface that also presents unique challenges because of the speed of play and low bounces.<\/p>\n

\u201cGrass is a tough surface to start on,\u201d Davenport said. \u201cIt goes very quick, very low, very physical, not as much running as clay, but a lot of bending. \u2026 She wouldn\u2019t come back unless she knew she could play at such a high level. But we\u2019ve got to be a little graceful in the time we give her until she hits her feet.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more Scott Pelley of \u201960 Minutes\u2019 accuses CBS News head Bari Weiss of \u2018murdering\u2019 the show, report says<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After nearly four years away from the sport, the 23-time Grand Slam singles champion has accepted a wild card invitation to play doubles at an upcoming event in London.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11481,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43,2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11482","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-based-on-facts-either-observed-and-verified-directly-by-the-reporter-or-reported-and-verified-from-knowledgeable-sources","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\nSerena Williams is returning to pro tennis at age 44 - Silicon Valley Moving Post<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=11482\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Serena Williams is returning to pro tennis at age 44 - 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