Serena Williams set to return to tennis at Queen's Club Championships
Serena Williams, a 23-time singles Grand Slam champion, will play her first professional tennis match in nearly four years next week in London.
Williams, a mom of two, is scheduled to play in the doubles competition at the HSBC Championships, the tournament said Monday on social media.
"THE QUEEN RETURNS," the tournament's official account posted on X, alongside a crown emoji. "Serena Williams is BACK & set for doubles at the #HSBCChampionships!"
The Women's Tennis Association also celebrated Williams' return, which comes nearly four years after she played in her final Grand Slam at the 2022 U.S. Open.
"Serena is one of the greatest athletes of all-time, with a legacy that extends far beyond the court," Valerie Camillo, chair of the WTA, said in a statement. "Her return is an expression of her passion for competition, and I cannot wait to see her face a new generation of top players."
Williams has not yet commented but shared a video on social media on Monday that appears to allude to her return.
The video shows Williams practicing on a tennis court when her phone begins to ring and chime continuously. Near the end of the video, text appears on the screen that says, "Guess everybody heard the news."
"Good news travels fast," Williams captioned the video.
The HSBC Championships is scheduled to start on June 7. The tournament is played on grass and is a lead-up to Wimbledon, which begins on June 29.
As recently as last December, Williams shot down rumors that she was planning a comeback, writing on X, "Omg yall I'm NOT coming back. This wildfire is crazy-."
She bid farewell to professional tennis in 2022 in a personal essay for Vogue titled, "The Hardest Thing."
In her essay, Williams wrote that she hated the word "retirement."
"The best word to describe what I'm up to is evolution. I'm here to tell you that I'm evolving away from tennis, toward other things that are important to me," she said.
After stepping away from tennis, Williams gave birth to her second child, a daughter named Adira, in 2023. She and her husband, Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian, also share a 9-year-old daughter, Olympia.
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