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Editor\u2019s note: This explainer has been updated June 9, 2026, to reflect news of Serena Williams\u2019 first match in her return to professional tennis<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n Serena Williams<\/a>, considered by many the greatest women\u2019s tennis player of all time<\/a>, will return to tennis June 9, with a women\u2019s doubles match at Queen\u2019s,<\/a>\u00a0the prestigious grass-court tournament played ahead of Wimbledon, and the Berlin Open.<\/p>\n Williams<\/a>, 44, will compete with Victoria Mboko, the rising 19-year-old Canadian, against No. 3 seeds Erin Routliffe of New Zealand and Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the U.S.<\/p>\n But which other tournaments could Williams play in? Will she eventually partner with her sister Venus<\/a>, the seven-time Grand Slam singles champion with whom she won 14 major doubles titles and three Olympic golds? And what has she had to do to make a tennis return possible?<\/p>\n Event:<\/strong> Queen\u2019s, a WTA 500 event two rungs below the Grand Slams<\/p>\n Venue:<\/strong> Queen\u2019s Club, London<\/p>\n Draw:<\/strong> Women\u2019s doubles<\/p>\n Partner:<\/strong> Victoria Mboko, 19, Canada<\/p>\n Opponent:<\/strong> Erin Routliffe, New Zealand \/ Nicole Melichar-Martinez, U.S.<\/p>\n Time:<\/strong> Not before 5:30 p.m. BST \/ 12:30 p.m. ET \/ 9:30 a.m. PT<\/p>\n How to watch:<\/strong> Tennis Channel (U.S.), Sky Sports Tennis (U.K.)<\/p>\n \u201cGrass has given me some of the most meaningful moments of my career, and I\u2019m excited to be back competing on one of the sport\u2019s most iconic stages,\u201d Williams said in a statement announcing her appearance at Queen\u2019s.<\/p>\n She will also play doubles at the Berlin Open, another grass event, the following week. Her partner is yet to be announced.<\/p>\n Grass is the shortest season in tennis, running only from the start of June to the middle of July, but it is also the part of the calendar with which Williams became synonymous. She won Wimbledon, the third Grand Slam of the year, seven times in singles, and was a master of the slick, low-bouncing lawns of the All England Tennis Club.<\/p>\n Williams\u2019 first tournament back will be the women\u2019s doubles at Queen\u2019s in southwest London, which begins June 8. Williams is set to play with Victoria Mboko, the 19-year-old Canadian.<\/p>\n The return to tennis ends a gradual shift in Williams from a definitive \u201cno,\u201d to non-committal, to returning to the sport.<\/p>\n When Williams\u2019 name was seen in the tennis anti-doping pool<\/a> last December, Williams posted on X: \u201cOmg yall I\u2019m NOT coming back. This wildfire is crazy.\u201d<\/p>\n But during an interview on \u201cToday\u201d in January, Williams was offered the chance to put the possibility of her return to bed<\/a>. Instead, she laughed and responded: \u201cIf I want to put it to bed \u2026 Listen, I want to go to bed \u2014 it\u2019s early.\u201d<\/p>\n On both occasions, representatives for Williams did not respond to a request for comment. Then, Feb. 19, Williams posted a cryptic TikTok in which she practiced serves alone on a tennis court for, she said, the first time since 2023.<\/p>\n By reentering the testing pool, and in so doing subjecting herself to tennis\u2019 whereabouts rules, which include accepting the possibility of random drug testing, and remaining in a certain place for an hour a day, Williams gave a huge indication that she is, at the very least, keeping the option open of a comeback. Now, that has come true.<\/p>\n With wild cards. There is no protected ranking for players who have left the sport, and so Williams\u2019 participation, at least until she builds up her ranking, will be at the discretion of the tournaments she wishes to enter.<\/p>\n Given her status in the game, she is likely to have absolutely no issue getting a wild card wherever she wants. And smaller tournaments will likely be queuing up to offer her hefty appearance fees to play at their events.<\/p>\n Williams has previously opted to use doubles as a transition into playing singles.<\/p>\n Williams opted to just play the doubles at the Eastbourne Open in England in June 2022 as she returned to the sport after a year out with injury, before returning to singles action at Wimbledon a week later.<\/p>\n This time around, she said that she is intending to play singles, but only if she can \u2014 and if she can\u2019t, that won\u2019t see her lose any sleep.<\/p>\n \u201cI feel like I\u2019m probably going to train a little bit more. I want to play singles and we\u2019ll see if I get there and if not, that\u2019s not my journey right now,\u201d she said in a news conference at Queen\u2019s.<\/p>\n The main obstacle was reentering the anti-doping pool for six months, which Williams completed Feb. 22. She will then need to remain in the pool, and give her daily whereabouts to the ITIA.<\/p>\n Then it\u2019s a case of trying to clamber up the rankings ladder again \u2014 although that\u2019s less relevant for Williams, who will be given wildcards whenever she wants them.<\/p>\n Either to return to tennis, to keep the option open of returning to tennis, or because she enjoys updating her daily whereabouts and the prospect of a drugs tester ringing on her doorbell at 6 a.m. asking for a urine sample.<\/p>\n It turned out to be the former.<\/p>\n \n Serena Williams\u2019 last Grand Slam singles title came at the 2017 Australian Open, where she beat her sister Venus, in the final. (Getty Images)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Largely because she can, and at 44 surely won\u2019t be able to for much longer. Williams still hits regularly, and will have seen how competitive Venus, now 45, has been on her return to the sport over the last seven months. Why not see if she can be even more so? Especially when her Grand Slam tally of 23 remains one behind Novak Djokovic and Margaret Court\u2019s record, and when she is of the view that she can compete against today\u2019s top players on the women\u2019s tour.<\/p>\n Williams always left the door open for a return \u2014 speaking of \u201cevolving away\u201d from tennis rather than retiring when announcing her farewell in 2022 \u2014 and with her children a little older, at 8 and 3, she may see this as the right moment and last opportunity. Williams has proven herself the master of the comeback before \u2014 returning to the sport after serious injury to win Slams previously, and reaching four major finals after giving birth in September 2017.<\/p>\n Williams has also spoken about the benefits of taking GLP-1 weight-loss drugs, and in a series of interviews last summer said that she felt joint stress caused by her weight had prevented her from winning as many Grand Slam titles as she might have done.<\/p>\nSerena Williams\u2019 first professional match of her comeback: The details<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Why is Serena Williams making her tennis comeback now?<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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How will she enter tournaments?<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Will she play singles?<\/strong><\/h2>\n
What do retired tennis players have to do to return to tennis?<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Why did she reenter the tennis anti-doping pool?<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Why would she want to come back to tennis?<\/strong><\/h2>\n