Serena Williams planning tennis comeback at 44 at Queen's Club

Serena Williams is coming back.

The 23-time Grand Slam singles champion, who has not played competitive tennis since her emotional farewell at the 2022 US Open, is believed to be targeting a doubles wildcard at the HSBC Championships at Queen's Club in London beginning June 8, her first competitive match in nearly four years, according to The Telegraph and multiple other outlets reporting from the French Open on Thursday.

The comeback has been in preparation for longer than most people knew. Williams quietly re-entered the compulsory anti-doping testing pool last year. She completed the required six-month testing period, making her officially eligible to compete on the WTA Tour from February 22, 2026. The International Tennis Integrity Agency listed her on its roster of reinstated players on that date. She has been eligible to play for more than three months. The question has not been eligibility. It has been timing and partner selection.

Williams has not yet formally confirmed the comeback. Multiple British media reports point to Queen's Club as the venue, with tournament organizers holding two available doubles wildcard slots that allow them to accommodate former world number ones and Grand Slam champions under WTA special entry provisions. The June 8 start date for the Queen's Club WTA 500 event falls immediately after the French Open concludes.

The doubles partner question remains the most closely watched detail. Andy Roddick, speaking publicly, claimed Williams was eyeing 19-year-old Canadian standout Victoria Mboko as her partner. Mboko, when asked at the French Open about the prospect of playing alongside Williams, gave a response that generated enormous attention. "Yeah. You know, I'm very happy. Me and Serena have stayed in touch," she said, neither confirming nor denying the partnership while leaving the ultimate reveal to Williams herself.

Other players at Roland Garros were unanimous in their enthusiasm. Naomi Osaka, who defeated Williams in a famous 2018 US Open final to claim her first Grand Slam title, said she would be "very entertained" by the return. "I mean, I don't really care about tennis. I think it's good for me. I'll be very entertained," Osaka joked. "Overall the scope of it, I think it will bring people to watch tennis, which she always does bring an audience with her." Madison Keys was blunter. "Let's be real, we all want to watch Serena play tennis."

The prediction market Kalshi has been tracking comeback probability since the market opened on February 22. As of May 25, traders gave a 77 percent chance of Williams competing in at least one WTA tournament before the end of 2026. Those odds have fluctuated between 54 and 85 percent since the market opened, reflecting the genuine uncertainty around whether the signals will translate into an actual match.

Williams is 44 years old. Her career produced 73 singles titles, 23 Grand Slam singles championships and 14 Grand Slam doubles titles, all won alongside her sister Venus. She was 40 when she played her last professional match in the 2022 US Open third round, losing to Ajla Tomljanovic. She subsequently said she was not retiring but evolving, a framing that left deliberate ambiguity about whether she was done. Her subsequent business ventures, including Serena Ventures, her venture capital fund, and her continued role at Williams-related investment vehicles, kept her publicly visible and commercially active without any clear indication of when or whether she would return to the court.

The comeback, if confirmed at Queen's Club, would be the most watched doubles match in the history of that tournament.