Serena Williams’s return to tennis will include Grand Slam singles competition.
Williams, 44, has received the final wild-card entry to the women’s singles main draw at Wimbledon, organizers announced Sunday. She has won 23 singles Grand Slam titles, including seven times at Wimbledon.
Before the announcement of Williams’s singles return, it was first confirmed Tuesday that Williams was going to play at Wimbledon. Serena and her sister, Venus, had received wild-card entry to compete in the Grand Slam’s women’s doubles tournament.
The duo has six Wimbledon doubles titles together.
The tournament also announced several other wild cards across men’s and women’s events Tuesday, including seven entries for the women’s singles competition. Six of the spots were given to British players—as is normally the case to increase local participation.
The other spot was given to Poland’s Maja Chwalińska, who surged nearly 100 spots after a Cinderella run to the French Open final earlier this month. Wimbledon rankings were submitted before her ranking increased.
The eighth and final women’s singles wild-card slot was listed as “to be announced” before it was awarded to Williams.
Williams has competed in two doubles matches since returning to tennis earlier this month.
She made her official return at the HSBC Championships, a known Wimbledon warm-up, winning her first match alongside world No. 9 singles player Victoria Mboko. However, the two had to withdraw from their next match after Mboko sustained a knee injury during singles action.
On Tuesday, Williams played doubles at the Berlin Open with world No. 10 singles player Karolína Muchová, but the two lost in straight sets to Giuliana Olmos and Erin Routliffe.
Before her return earlier this month, Williams last competed at the 2022 US Open, where she lost in the third round to Ajla Tomljanović. Williams never directly stated she was retiring, instead saying she was “evolving away from tennis.”
Her professional return first became a possibility after tennis journalist Ben Rothenberg reported that she had re-entered the ITIA’s drug testing portal in late 2025. Retired players must be in the portal for six months before they are allowed to return.
