Serena Williams will resume her legendary tennis career at next week’s Queen’s Club Championships, on the doubles court.
The 23-time major champion, aged 44, is expected to team with Canadian rising star Victoria Mboko.
It will be her first competitive outing since September 2022, when she lost in the third round of the US Open to Ajla Tomljanovic after announcing she was “evolving away from tennis”.
Rumours of Williams’ potential comeback have been bubbling since December 2025, when it was reported she had re-entered the International Tennis Integrity Agency’s pool of players registered for anti-doping testing. She was officially reinstated on that list in February 2026.
She said at the time she was not returning, although in subsequent months it emerged she had been hitting regularly with top-100 player Alycia Parks and former ATP pro Jesse Levine in Florida, who both spoke about the experience in Ben Rothenberg's Substack publication Bounces.
As speculation mounted she was targeting a return on grass, Mboko was asked about the prospect of playing with the seven-time Wimbledon champion at Queen’s.
“I'm very happy. Me and Serena have stayed in touch, which is really, really nice, because I really look up to her. I mean, the fact that she even knows me is very exciting,” Mboko laughed.
“I think for me I want to kind of let the moment [be] for her. I feel like if she's ready to come back on her own terms, then I feel like it's up to her to announce that, but other than that, I don't really have much to say.
“I think the moment is all up to her, and when she's ready to come back, yeah, it's up to her.”
Williams finally confirmed the comeback herself on her social media channels on Monday, drawing a wave of excited replies and positive comments from fellow players and other sporting champions.
"Queen’s Club feels like the perfect place to begin this next chapter," she said in a statement. "Grass has given me some of the most meaningful moments of my career, and I’m excited to be back competing on one of the sport’s most iconic stages.”
There are also reports Williams may compete at the WTA grasscourt tournament in Berlin, the week after Queen’s.
Serena last competed in doubles at that 2022 US Open with sister Venus, although her last wins in doubles came on grass, with Ons Jabeur, at Eastbourne that year.
Jabeur and Williams advanced to the semifinals in a run that lit up the tournament.
In addition to her 23 Grand Slam singles titles, Williams is also a 14-time major winner in doubles – most recently in 2016 at Wimbledon with Venus.
Her last major singles title came at Australian Open 2017, making her the oldest woman to win a Grand Slam singles crown in the Open era.