LONDON — Serena Williams will play at Wimbledon for the first time since 2022 after the American legend was given a wildcard to play the doubles event with her sister Venus on Tuesday.
Williams made a sensational return to tennis last week when she won her first-round doubles match at Queen’s Club with partner Victoria Mboko.
The 44-year-old had not played professional tennis for four years after saying she was “evolving away” from the sport following the 2022 US Open, AFP reported.
But the 23-time Grand Slam singles champion was keen to play in front of her two young daughters and made the shock announcement of her return just prior to the Wimbledon warm-up event at Queen’s.
Williams was unable to play more than one match at Queen’s after Mboko pulled out with an injury, but she is due to continue her remarkable comeback in the Berlin Open doubles alongside Karolina Muchova this week.
The Williams sisters are six-time doubles champions at Wimbledon, winning their last title on their most recent appearance together a decade ago.
Following speculation that Serena would be tempted to play in the singles at Wimbledon, which starts on June 29, the American was absent from the list of wildcard entries into that part of the tournament.
After so long away, she had no ranking to secure automatic entry into tournaments, leaving her to rely on wildcards.
There is still one singles wildcard place for Wimbledon to be announced.
