Serena Williams is undeniably one of the most influential and iconic figures in tennis history.
So, rumours of her return to the sport have unsurprisingly sent many fans into a frenzy.
The American won 23 singles Grand Slam titles across a glittering career, alongside a plethora of other elite honours including Olympic gold medals and doubles triumphs.
It is for this reason that Serena Williams is regarded as the greatest tennis player of all time by many.
If Serena Williams isn’t the greatest tennis player of all time, then who is and why?
And now, despite retiring from the sport in 2022, there’s reason to believe we haven’t seen the end of her on a tennis court.
Serena Williams makes move towards a comeback to tennis
In news that was likely inadvertently broken by the ITIA, it is now expected that 2026 could be the year of Serena Williams’s comeback.
After all, this confirms that she has some plans to play competitively, registering herself for the anti-doping testing pool.
She will have to wait six months to be cleared, which should give her just enough time to be ready for the US Open, should she have grand ambitions of staging her comeback at the site of her retirement over three years ago now.
Even though Williams emerged to refute these claims, the excitement has not died down.
She wrote on X: “Omg yall I’m NOT coming back. This wildfire is crazy.”
However, someone with as much showmanship as the 42-year-old will surely be waiting for the right moment to truly announce her return. A leaked document about anti-doping is hardly the way in which she would have envisioned re-entering the tennis world.
Serena Williams has hinted at a tennis comeback before
This is not the first time that the tennis world has been sent into chaos by the possibility of Williams’ return to tennis.
After all, less than a month after her 2022 retirement at the US Open, she stated: “I am not retired. The chances [of me returning] are very high. You can come to my house and [see] I have a court.”
Are there any other players you would like to see come out of retirement? If so, who?
A conflicting claim that has yet to come to fruition, as recently as last year, Serena teased fans by posting on social media: “I’m ready to hit some balls again.”
However, this feels like the first time that there has been tangible proof that a comeback is just around the corner.
The tennis world will be waiting patiently to see how this story unfolds in the new year.
