Serena Williams returns to Wimbledon and this time she plays singles.
The tennis legend, 44, has been awarded a wild card to compete in the 2026 women’s singles at Wimbledon, the tournament announced on its official Instagram account on Sunday (June 21).
“This is not a practice,” the account wrote, along with a photo of Serena on a grass court and the words “Serena returns.”
The tournament begins on June 29.
The singles announcement follows news earlier this week that Serena would also reunite with her sister Venus Williams, 46, to play the doubles at Wimbledon, with both receiving wildcards into that event.
Wimbledon marked this unveiling with a photo of the two sisters on court together: “Back together, at Wimbledon.”
It has been a busy and somewhat turbulent return to professional tennis for Serena.
On 9 June, she resumed her doubles career at the Queen’s Club Championship in London after almost four years away from the sport, teaming with Canada’s Victoria Mboko to defeat Erin Routliffe and Nicole Melichar-Martinez in straight sets.
Two days later, the pair were forced to withdraw after Mboko suffered a right knee injury. Serena then competed at the Berlin Open on 16 June, this time alongside Karolina Muchova, but the team lost in the first round.
Her last singles match was at the 2022 US Open, where she lost to Ajla Tomljanovic in the third round. At the time, she said she preferred to think of herself as “evolving” away from tennis rather than retiring.
What brought her back? Her eight-year-old daughter Olympia.
“My daughter, Olympia, told me to play with Venus,” Serena told reporters in Berlin. “She’s always right, so I was like, okay.”
She added: “She’s very serious. She knows it. She’s very smart. She’s very smart, I think, is a better word. So I said, ‘Okay, Olympia, let’s see if we can do it’.”
Wimbledon starts on June 29. Serena Williams will be there.
