Serena Williams will compete in singles at Wimbledon after accepting the eighth and final women’s wild-card invitation from the All England Club, the tournament announced Sunday, setting up one of the most anticipated returns in the history of the sport.
The decision means Williams, 44, will play both singles and doubles at Wimbledon, having already accepted a wild-card invitation to compete in doubles alongside her sister Venus. Her last singles match at a professional level came in the third round of the 2022 US Open, where she said afterward that she was not retiring but evolving away from the game. Nearly four years later, she is walking back through the doors of the event where she has won more titles than at any other major.
A decision that came at the last moment
The All England Club held the final wild-card spot open specifically to give Williams time to decide. Her ambivalence about accepting it was evident as recently as last week, when she seemed genuinely uncertain about whether she was ready for the demands of singles competition in addition to doubles. She had not entered the singles draw of any grass-court warm-up tournament before Wimbledon, leaving her without any recent competitive singles experience to draw on.
After accepting the invitation on Sunday, she acknowledged the decision in a characteristically light way on social media, offering a playful response rather than a grand statement. The restraint was fitting for someone who has never needed words to announce her presence on a tennis court.
The stakes of any single match
If Williams wins even one match at Wimbledon, she will join an extraordinarily small group of women who have won a Grand Slam singles match in the Open Era at age 44 or older. Only a handful of players in history have accomplished that, with the most recent doing so more than two decades ago. The potential historical significance of her presence in the draw extends beyond any particular round.
Because Williams has no current singles ranking after years away from the tour, she has no protection in the draw process and could face any opponent in the opening round, including the world’s top-ranked players. The draw ceremony is scheduled for Friday, and it will reveal whether Williams opens against a relative unknown or is placed immediately against the defending champion or the current world number one.
A record already written in gold
The context around any Wimbledon singles appearance by Williams is her existing record at the event. She has won seven singles titles at the All England Club, most recently in 2016, and six doubles titles alongside Venus. She also won both the singles and doubles at the 2012 London Olympics when the competition was held on the same courts, making her relationship with Wimbledon one of the most decorated in the tournament’s history.
The return to competition has been gradual. She won a doubles match at Queen’s Club last month before her partner withdrew with a knee injury. Earlier this week in Berlin she and a different doubles partner were beaten in the second round of competition. The results suggest a player still finding her competitive rhythm after a long absence, which makes the singles commitment at Wimbledon an act of genuine courage rather than comfortable certainty.
The tournament begins June 29. Whatever happens in the singles draw, Williams is returning to the place where her legend is most deeply rooted.
