Serena Williams, a seven-time Wimbledon champion, will make her expected return to the grass courts of SW19 when the tournament starts later this month, after being given a wild card entry to arguably the most famous tennis tournament in the world. She will compete in ladies’ singles, according to Wimbledon’s announcement Tuesday.
American tennis player Serena Williams hinted at the highly anticipated news on Tuesday: “SW and SW19. It’s a date. 2022, see you there.” SW19 is the postcode district in Southwest London incorporating Wimbledon, among other boroughs. The social media post showed her standing on a grass court with white sneakers on. Williams has not played competitively since an injury forced her to retire in a first-round match at Wimbledon last year. The 23-time major champion last reached the Wimbledon final in 2019 where she lost to Simona Halep, who now works with Williams’ former coach Patrick Mouratoglou.
Wimbledon will announce Williams’s return to the court in Eastbourne next week for the LTA’s international title in Eastbourne, where she will team up with Tunisia’s number-one player, Ons Jabeur, in the doubles fixture. This is the second time that Williams will be playing a major tournament in this year.
23-time Grand Slam champion Serena Williams has said she still hopes to beat Australian Margaret Court’s record of 24. “I should have been at like 30 or 32 (grand slam singles titles),” Williams told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour earlier this year. “I should have had it (the record), really, I’ve had many opportunities to have it. But I’m not giving up.” Williams was forced to miss January’s Australian Open following the advice of her medical team, announcing in December that she wasn’t “where I need to be physically to compete.” Wimbledon is scheduled for June 27 to July 10 at the All England Lawn Tennis & Croquet Club.