Serena Williams has become the latest A-list athlete to plan an encore performance with a return to competitive tennis after a nearly four-year absence for the 23-time Grand Slam winner and mother of two.<\/p>\n
The 44-year-old received a wildcard entry into the doubles draw at this month\u2019s Queen\u2019s Club Championships, where British media reported she will play with 19-year-old Canadian Victoria Mboko. <\/p>\n
She ended months of speculation over a rumoured return with a cheeky social media video captioned: \u201cGood news travels fast.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m semi-shocked that she\u2019s decided to do this at her age after having two kids and what she\u2019s accomplished,\u201d commentator and retired great John McEnroe said on TNT Sports on Monday.<\/p>\n
Williams had announced she was \u201cevolving away from tennis\u201d when she last played at the 2022 US Open, where she received a hero\u2019s send-off in a multi-day celebration of her glittering career at the crown jewel of American tennis in New York.<\/p>\n
Williams came up short in her bid to capture a 24th major after having her first child, Olympia, in 2017. She gave birth to her second child in 2023, making it appear increasingly unlikely that she would return to competitive tennis.<\/p>\n
[Serena\u2019s] return is an expression of her passion for competition. I cannot wait to see her face a new generation<\/p>\n
\u2014 \u00a0Valerie Camillo, WTA chair <\/p>\n
\u201cShe didn\u2019t win a major after she had her first kid and I know that was something she wanted to prove she could do, and so I\u2019m assuming she was slightly disappointed in not doing that,\u201d McEnroe said.<\/p>\n
She is not the only top-level athlete with unfinished business, as advancements in training and medical care have allowed for longer careers across several sports.<\/p>\n
Seven-time track gold medallist Allyson Felix said earlier this year that she would try to make the US squad in what would be her sixth Olympics. She is aiming to secure a spot on the mixed 4x400m \u200brelay team at the 2028 Los Angeles Games, despite having previously said that the Tokyo Games would be her last.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s just \u2060about testing \u200bthe limits, kind of an experiment \u200bof what\u2019s still left there,\u201d the 40-year-old Felix, who gave birth to her second child in 2024, told The TODAY Show last month.<\/p>\n
Her fellow American, Lindsey Vonn, became the oldest downhill skier to win a World Cup race in December, when she mounted a comeback after knee-replacement surgery.<\/p>\n
Vonn, whose Milano-Cortina campaign ended abruptly with a horrific crash, was among the first top-level athletes to offer her encouragement to Williams on social media.<\/p>\n
In tennis, long-time Williams friend Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark made it to the fourth round at the US Open in 2023 and 2024 during her own comeback campaign, while older sister Venus became the oldest WTA singles match winner since 2004, when she returned from a 16-month absence last year.<\/p>\n
\u201c[Serena\u2019s] return is an expression of her passion for competition,\u201d WTA chair Valerie Camillo said in a statement on Monday. \u201cI cannot wait to see her face a new generation.\u201d<\/p>\n