‘This is not a drill’: Serena Williams is returning to Wimbledon singles
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The 23-time Grand Slam champion accepted a wild-card invitation into the ladies’ singles draw, meaning she’ll compete at Wimbledon in both singles and doubles with Venus Williams.
Serena Williams is making Wimbledon feel like a family reunion, a history lesson and a sporting event all at once.
The 44-year-old tennis icon is officially returning to singles competition at Wimbledon after accepting a wild-card invitation into the ladies’ singles draw. According to ESPN, the All England Club announced Sunday that Williams will compete in singles at this year’s tournament, marking her first singles match since the 2022 U.S. Open.
Serena is not just coming back alone. Williams had already accepted a wild card into the ladies’ doubles draw alongside her older sister Venus Williams, setting up yet another chapter for one of the most celebrated sibling duos in sports history.
In a post across social media, Wimbledon summed up the feeling in three words: “This is not a drill.”
For fans who grew up watching Serena and Venus turn Centre Court into their own kind of family business, this is bigger than a draw sheet. It is a reminder of just how long the Williams sisters have been shaping the sport, bending its traditions and forcing tennis to make room for Black excellence on its most pristine stages.
Serena has won 23 Grand Slam singles titles, including seven at Wimbledon. She also owns 14 Grand Slam doubles titles with Venus, six of them at the All England Club. Their legacy at Wimbledon is already written in gold, but this latest return gives fans something they may not have expected again: Serena in singles, on grass, in white, with the tennis world watching.
Williams last played singles at the 2022 U.S. Open, where she lost in the third round to Ajla Tomljanovic. At the time, she clarified that she was not using the word “retirement,” instead describing the move as “evolving” away from tennis. In the years since, Serena has continued expanding her life beyond the court as a mother, entrepreneur, investor and cultural force.
Now, that evolution may include another Wimbledon run.
The comeback has already started in doubles. Williams recently played with Victoria Mboko at Queen’s Club, where the pair won their opening match before withdrawing after Mboko suffered an injury. She later teamed with Karolina Muchova at the Berlin Open, though they lost in the first round.
Still, singles is a different kind of test. Williams has no current singles ranking after nearly four years away from the discipline, and she has not entered any singles tune-up tournaments before Wimbledon. ESPN noted that if Williams wins a match at this year’s tournament, she would become the fourth-oldest woman in the Open Era to win a singles match at a major.
Wimbledon also noted that no player has ever won the ladies’ singles title as a wild card. But if there is anyone whose career has made a habit of turning “never” into “watch this,” it is Serena Williams.
The singles draw will be held Friday, when Williams will learn her first-round opponent. Wimbledon begins June 29.
Whether this becomes a deep run or simply one more chance to see the greatest do what she does, Serena’s return carries its own meaning. For fans, for women athletes, for mothers, and for anyone who has ever been told their window had closed, Serena stepping back onto the Wimbledon singles stage is not just nostalgia.
but as a reminder that some legends do not come back to prove who they were.
They come back because they still can.