The possibility had been circulating since Serena Williams revealed nearly three weeks ago that she was heading back to professional tennis following an absence of almost four years.
Even so, the brief announcement from The All England Club confirming that the 23-time Grand Slam champion will compete in singles at Wimbledon still landed with real surprise.
“Serena Williams (USA) receives the final ladies’ singles wild card,” the pivotal line in Sunday’s statement said, arriving just eight days before the grass-court major is set to begin.
Williams, 44, is now slated to enter both the singles and doubles draws at Wimbledon, having already accepted a doubles wild card alongside her older sister, Venus.
“This is not a drill,” Wimbledon posted Sunday across its social media channels.
The WTA Tour added its own excitement, writing, “Name a more iconic return…we’ll wait.”
Tournament officials had kept the eighth and final women’s singles wild card available while Williams weighed her options. Earlier in the week, after a doubles loss in Berlin, she still seemed uncertain about whether she would take the place.
“Oh my gosh, there are some left?” Williams said when informed that one wild card remained. Wild cards are discretionary invitations from tournament organizers that give former champions and other selected players a route into the main draw without meeting the standard entry criteria. Still, she went on to question whether she was truly prepared to compete.
“Do you think I’m ready for singles?” she asked a reporter and then turned to doubles partner Karolina Muchova to ask what she thought.
“I think I would be interested in it,” the Czech player responded.
“That’s the question of the hour, right?” Williams said. “I don’t know. I don’t know. I wonder why there’s – I don’t know.”
Well, now that Williams has made up her mind, the big remaining question is how she can physically handle singles play after so long.
Serena’s most-recent singles match was a loss to Ajla Tomljanovic in the third round of the 2022 U.S. Open. At the time, she said she didn’t want to use the word “retiring” and instead declared that she was “evolving” away from tennis. Her second daughter was born in 2023.
“Just finished a mean game of duck duck goose,” Williams said on X after the wild card announcement.
Of Williams’ 23 Grand Slam titles in singles, seven have come at Wimbledon: in 2002, 2003, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2015 and 2016. She’s also won 14 Grand Slams in doubles, all with Venus, and six of them at Wimbledon.
Serena also swept the singles and doubles (with Venus) titles at the 2012 London Olympics, when the tennis competition was held on the hallowed grass of the All England Club.
At her last Wimbledon appearance in 2022, Serena was beaten in the opening round by 115th-ranked Harmony Tan in her first match since having to stop less than a set into her opening contest at the All England Club because of an injury the year before.
Serena won a doubles match with partner Victoria Mboko at Queen’s Club last week but then the pair had to withdraw after Mboko injured her knee in a singles match.
In another doubles match at the Berlin Open on Tuesday, Serena and Muchova were beaten by Giuliana Olmos and Erin Routliffe.
As of Sunday, Serena had not entered the singles draws of any grass-court tuneup tournaments before Wimbledon.
She will learn who her first-round opponent is on Friday when the singles draws for Wimbledon are held.
While she’s No. 593 in the doubles rankings courtesy of her victory last week, Serena has no singles ranking after being away for so long.
Iga Swiatek is the defending Wimbledon champion, while Aryna Sabalenka is ranked No. 1.
Because Serena has no ranking, she could potentially face Swiatek, Sabalenka or any other top-ranked player in the opening rounds.
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