serena williams retirement rumors comeback wimbledon© Photo: Getty Images

Serena Williams makes long-awaited career announcement following tennis hiatus

She's ready!

Beatriz Colon - New York
New York WriterNew York
June 14, 2022

Serena Williams is not quite ready to hang up her racket and walk away! Despite rumors that she might not return to the tennis court, she will in fact be making a comeback, and to the most famous court of them all.

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Despite being excluded from the original entry list, the star has confirmed she will be participating in Wimbledon for the 21st time, as a wildcard.

Tennis fans weren't convinced she would be joining the iconic competition after an injury at last year's games, which forced her out of her first-round match with Aliaksandra Sasnovich.

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Serena has not been active in competitive tennis since the ankle injury a year ago. However, both the official Wimbledon page as well as Serena confirmed her participation.

Aliaksandra, the tennis player competing against Serena when she slipped and injured herself, is from Belarus, and is one of the players banned by Wimbledon this year because of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which has been supported by Belarus.

The athlete celebrated the news of her comeback on Instagram with a photo of her Nike shoes as she stood on grass, which she captioned with: "SW and SW19. It's a date. 2022 See you there. Let's Go."

Wimbledon confirmed the exciting news by highlighting each year the star has won

The mom-of-one is a seven-time Wimbledon champion. She won at Wimbledon in 2016, and also reached the final in 2018 and 2019.

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Following the announcement, the star was inundated with support from fans eager to see her back on the famous court, writing: "I am literally holding on from tears! You and Venus are surely missed!" and: "This just made me so happy," as well as: "Queen is coming back."

© Photo: Getty Images

Serena left the court last year quite emotional after having to unexpectedly pull out of the competition

It is unclear whether her sister, Venus Williams, is also planning on playing again. She has not competed since August of 2021 in Chicago.

Serena also revealed that prior to Wimbledon, her return to tennis will actually be at the WTA grass-court event in Eastbourne, England, which kicks off on 18 June.

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