‘I actually need to text her’: Simone Biles looks to Serena Williams as she considers Olympic return
TheGrio...
Williams’ return to professional tennis has caught Biles’ attention as the gymnast weighs competing at the 2028 Los Angeles Games.
Simone Biles says she plans to text Serena Williams for advice as she weighs whether to make another Olympic comeback. The question has followed the 29-year-old since her Paris Olympics success and Williams’ return to tennis has given her a fresh example to study as she considers the 2028 Los Angeles Games.
Biles told People at the U.S. Open on Sept. 8 that she was impressed by Williams’ return and wanted to ask the 44-year-old tennis legend about the experience. “I actually need to text her like, ‘Hey, what are your thoughts?’” Biles said, adding that the two need to catch up.
Williams returned to professional tennis this year after stepping away from competition in 2022. She played singles at Wimbledon and later reunited with Venus Williams for doubles at the U.S. Open, where the sisters lost in the first round to Maya Joint and Chan Hao-ching.
Biles has not announced a return of her own. She joked that there was “no breaking news” when asked about 2028, but she has continued leaving the door open. In April, she described her chances of competing in Los Angeles as “50-50” and said a decision would need to come relatively soon.
The gymnast has been on a competitive break since the 2024 Paris Olympics, where she won three gold medals and one silver. She now has 11 Olympic medals across three Games, including seven golds.
For Biles, the biggest question is not whether she can get physically ready. She has said her coaches can get her back into shape and that she remains confident in her body. The harder part is the mental commitment required for another Olympic cycle.
That concern carries extra weight because of what happened at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, when Biles withdrew from several events after experiencing the “twisties,” a dangerous loss of spatial awareness while performing. She later made mental health and therapy central to her return and successfully competed again in Paris.
Biles has also recently posted videos of herself back in the gym, doing flips and joking that she was checking whether she “still got it.”