Serena Williams Considering Tennis Comeback

It seems Serena Williams might be eyeing a return to the tennis court after stepping away. The 23-time Grand Slam winner has reportedly “applied to return to tennis and has been re-inducted into the sport’s drug testing pool,” according to a Tuesday report, marking three years since her retirement.

At 44, Williams was still listed as a retired player by the International Tennis Integrity Agency as of Tuesday. However, the report noted that her name will appear on the ITIA’s return list only after she’s been in the testing pool for six months—a process that, it seems, she has just begun.

Additionally, her name has shown up in the ITIA’s list of registered athletes for testing this October, suggesting that she could be on track to return by April 2026 at the latest.

Williams’ last match was at the US Open in September 2022, where she lost to Ajla Tomljanovic in the third round.

Interestingly, the report mentions that Williams first expressed a desire to return back in August, just a few weeks prior to this year’s U.S. Open. Meanwhile, her sister, Venus Williams, advanced to the women’s doubles quarterfinals alongside partner Leila Fernandez.

Her last Grand Slam victory was at the Australian Open in 2017. In a conversation with Vogue, she explained her decision to shift focus away from tennis as she prepared for the 2022 US Open, noting, “I’m here to tell you that I’m evolving away from tennis and toward other things that are important to me.” She highlighted her venture capital firm, Serena Ventures, and her growing family as new priorities.

Married to Alexis Ohanian, co-founder of Reddit, Williams welcomed daughters Olympia and Adira in 2017 and 2023, respectively. The couple also recently celebrated their seventh wedding anniversary in November.