Serena Williams returns to tennis at Queen’s Club

Serena Williams is returning to competitive tennis this month, ending a long absence from the professional tour with a wild card entry into the doubles draw at the HSBC Championships at Queen’s Club in London.

The 44-year-old American, one of the most decorated players in tennis history, announced the comeback after months of speculation about whether she would compete again. The WTA 500 event is played on grass in west London and is widely treated as a key warm-up tournament before Wimbledon.

“I’m excited to be back competing on one of the sport’s most iconic stages,” Williams said in a statement released by the tournament. In a fuller statement, she said: “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.”

Williams also announced the news in a Nike video with the tagline: “Guess everybody heard the news.” The Tennis Channel, which will stream the event, called the decision a “generational announcement.”

Williams will begin in doubles rather than singles. Source 1 reported that the doubles bracket begins June 8, while Source 2 said she will return to competition next week at Queen’s Club. Source 2 reported that she will partner Victoria Mboko, the Canadian player ranked No. 9 in singles, at the tournament in West Kensington.

Mboko was asked about Williams at the French Open last week. “I’m very happy,” she said. “Me and Serena have stayed in touch, which is really, really nice, because I really look up to her. I mean, the fact that she even knows me is very exciting. I think for me I want to let the moment be for her. I feel like if she’s ready to come back on her own terms, then I feel like it’s up to her to announce that.”

Williams has not competed since the 2022 US Open, where Source 2 reported that she described her departure from tennis as “evolving away” from the sport rather than retirement. Source 1 described the move as coming nearly four years after Williams retired. Source 2 reported that Williams remained on the retired players’ list until last year.

Speculation about a return intensified after Williams placed her name back into the Registered Testing Pool, the anti-doping system managed by the International Tennis Integrity Agency. Source 1 said official reports of her comeback came roughly six months after news outlets reported that development, and that Williams said at the time she was “NOT coming back.” Source 2 said her return to the drug-testing pool came last December and led many to conclude she intended to compete again in some capacity. It also reported that there had been numerous reports of Williams training in Florida, including a March video posted by Alycia Parks, the women’s world No. 79, showing herself training with Williams.

Williams’ statement stopped short of saying she plans to resume a full tennis schedule. Source 2 reported that she could move from doubles into singles at later events, but would have little time to prepare if she chose to play singles at Wimbledon, where she is a seven-time champion. Source 2 said Wimbledon begins Monday, June 29, three weeks from the first day of Queen’s.

Williams returns with one of the sport’s most accomplished résumés. She held the WTA world No. 1 ranking for more than six years, won 23 Grand Slam singles titles, the most by a woman in the Open era, and earned multiple Olympic medals in singles and doubles. Source 2 reported that she is also a 14-time Grand Slam doubles champion alongside her sister Venus Williams, who remains active on tour and turns 46 this month. Serena Williams is the only player to complete the career golden slam — all four Grand Slam tournaments and an Olympic gold medal — in both singles and doubles.

According to the WTA, Williams is one of nine former No. 1 women’s singles players to return to the tour after becoming a mother.