Serena Williams Returns to Tennis

Afternoon Edition

June 1, 2026

Serena Williams is returning to professional tennis. The 23-time Grand Slam winner entered the Queen’s Club Championships as a doubles wild card after months of rumors that she would come back from retirement. The 44-year-old tennis legend last played in 2022 when she lost in the third round at the US Open.

—Lisa Scherzer and Yanyan Li

First Up

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Serena Williams Confirms Tennis Comeback With Doubles Wild Card

Palm Beach Post

Serena Williams isn’t done with tennis after all.

The 23-time Grand Slam champion entered the HSBC Championships as a doubles wild card, the tournament confirmed Monday. The tournament, played on grass at the Queen’s Club in London and beginning June 6, is a WTA 500-level competition that serves as a warmup for Wimbledon.

“Queen’s Club feels like the perfect place to begin this next chapter,” Williams 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.”

“Serena is not just a great champion. She’s a successful entrepreneur, a powerful advocate for the issues that matter – and one of the most iconic women in the world,” WTA chair Valerie Camillo said in a Monday release. “We are thrilled to welcome her back to the WTA Tour at this hugely exciting moment for women’s tennis.”

In a nod to the long-held rumors she would be returning to play, Williams posted a video on her X account Monday, “Good news travels fast,” as she walks onto a tennis court to the sound of phone dings. “I gotta change my number,” she says as her phone blows up.

Williams, 44, last played in 2022 when she retired after a third-round loss to Ajla Tomljanović at the US Open. It was just a few weeks after she announced she was “evolving away from tennis.” However, murmurs of a possible return got louder in recent months, after she reentered the International Tennis Integrity Association’s drug testing pool last December.

Good news travels fast. pic.twitter.com/R7x7EFPUJ8
— Serena Williams (@serenawilliams) June 1, 2026

Then, Williams denied reports of a comeback, saying, “Omg yall I’m NOT coming back. This wildfire is crazy.” In January, on the Today show, she said her return was “not a yes or no” and that she’d “see what happens,” before dodging further questions on the matter.

Rumors of Williams’s comeback at the Queen’s Club first surfaced May 28, when US Open champion Andy Roddick said on his Served podcast that she’d play doubles with Canadian WTA world No. 9 Victoria Mboko next month.

“Me and Serena have stayed in touch. Which is really, really nice because I really look up to her. The fact that she even knows me is very exciting,” Mboko said at a French Open press conference, when asked about Williams. “I think for me, I wanna kinda leave the moment 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. Other than that, I don’t have much to say.”

Williams’s older sister, Venus, returned from over a yearlong hiatus in late 2025, competing as a singles wild card at both the 2025 US Open and 2026 Australian Open.

The HSBC Championships did not confirm the younger Williams’s entry when Front Office Sports asked about it on May 28. The tournament’s women’s doubles portion runs June 8–14, with the start happening just two days after the French Open women’s singles final. It will be streamed in the U.S. on Tennis Channel.

It’s not confirmed whether Williams will compete at Wimbledon, which starts June 29. However, tournament organizers did not deny a possible Williams entry when asked.

“The All England Club will meet to discuss and begin allocating initial wild cards for The Championships the week commencing 15 June,” the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club wrote in a statement to FOS.

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EXCLUSIVE

Russell Wilson to Join CBS NFL Studio

Jan 4, 2026; East Rutherford, New Jersey, USA; New York Giants quarterback Russell Wilson (3) waves to fans after the game against the Dallas Cowboys at MetLife Stadium.

Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images

Russell Wilson is expected to accept the job to replace Matt Ryan on CBS’s NFL Today studio program. Wilson had a 14-year NFL career as quarterback of the Seahawks, Broncos, Steelers, and Giants, which included 10 Pro Bowl selections and a Super Bowl championship with Seattle. Read the story.

ONE BIG FIG

Friendly Match

Mar 1, 2025; Harrison, New Jersey, USA; A general view of a stadium electronic banner before the match between the New York Red Bulls and Nashville SC at Sports Illustrated Stadium.

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$25

The cost of discounted tickets that New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and local officials announced have been made available for two pre-tournament friendlies at Sports Illustrated Stadium in Harrison, N.J., ahead of the World Cup.

The initiative was part of a joint effort by the FIFA World Cup NYNJ Host Committee, New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, and Red Bull New York, which plays at Sports Illustrated Stadium. Fans can buy the discounted tickets to watch Bolivia vs. Scotland on June 6 and Morocco vs. Norway on June 7.

This is the latest move by local officials in a World Cup host city to offer reduced-price tickets to a World Cup event. Last month Mamdani announced that he negotiated 1,000 tickets from FIFA that will cost residents only $50 each.

Inside the Premier League’s Next Growth Strategy

The Premier League already reaches 1.8 billion fans across 189 countries, but its next challenge isn’t getting bigger—it’s getting closer.

Through a new partnership with Microsoft, the league is rebuilding its digital ecosystem with AI-powered experiences designed to make fandom feel more personal, whether a supporter wants tactical insights, historical moments, live match context, or team-specific updates.

The bigger play extends beyond technology. It’s a bet that the future value of sports leagues will come from relevance over reach and turning global audiences into deeper, stickier fan communities.

Read how Microsoft and the Premier League are building the next era of global sports fandom.

STATUS REPORT

One Up, One Down, Two Push

Dec 2, 2018; East Rutherford, NJ, USA; New York Giants wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. (13) throws a touchdown pass to New York Giants wide receiver Russell Shepard (81) in the third quarter against the Bears at MetLife Stadium.

Robert Deutsch-Imagn Images

Odell Beckham Jr. ⬆⬇ The NFL wide receiver will rejoin the Giants, the team he was drafted by in 2014. Beckham spent five seasons in New York, where he garnered three Pro Bowl selections, won the 2014 NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year award, and made his trademark one-handed catch against the Cowboys. Since then, he has had stints with the Browns, Rams, Ravens, and Dolphins, winning the Super Bowl with Los Angeles in 2021.

UCLA baseball ⬇ The No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA tournament was eliminated in its own Los Angeles regionals, after Saint Mary’s defeated it in a 6–5 10th-inning walkoff win. The loss caused controversy because the Bruins were playing as the “away” team in their own regional, giving the Gaels an opportunity to bat at the bottom of each inning and walk their opponents off. Saint Mary’s was quickly eliminated, though—it fell 5–2 in the L.A. regional final to Cal Poly.

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