Serena Williams is coming back.
The Telegraph reported on Thursday morning that Williams has submitted for a wild-card at Queens Club — the grass-court tune-up for Wimbledon — to play doubles.
The event begins June 8 after the conclusion of the French Open with the tennis season turning to the grass courts that Williams so often dominated.
“The Served” podcast hosted by longtime tennis reporter Jon Wertheim and Andy Roddick initially noted the possibility on Wednesday’s show.
Wertheim added that the 44-year-old Williams would be playing alongside rising 19-year-old Canadian star Victoria Mboko.
“It would shock me if she didn’t come back,” Roddick said.
Williams re-entered the ITA’s doping protocol and was eligible to return to competition in February, however she initially denied that was her intention.
“Omg yall I’m NOT coming back. This wildfire is crazy,” she tweeted in December.
Then in February, Williams gave a cagey response when pressed on the issue on “TODAY.”
“I mean, really? Are you asking this on the ‘Today’ show? Oh my goodness,” Williams told Savannah Guthrie. “Now people on set are laughing. It’s distracting. I’m just having fun and enjoying my life right now.”
It now appears that her comeback is indeed happening and it will likely go beyond just Queens Club. Wertheim and Roddick believe that Williams is likely to play singles too and enter the draw at Wimbledon — where she won seven of her 23 Grand Slam titles — later in June.
“A lot of chatter about this Serena comeback,” Wertheim said. “It’s picking up steam is what I’ve heard. She will be playing at Queen’s Club doubles…. This is all being done with such weird cloak-and-dagger and denials and secrecy. But this is awesome.”
Williams last played at the 2022 US Open, losing to Ajla Tomljanović in the third round.
Williams has looked slimmer in retirement and said in August she had dropped 31 pounds while promoting the GLP-1 weight-loss drug, Ro. Her husband, Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian, is on the board of the company.