Serena Williams was always a wild card.
The tennis legend — who stepped away from tennis after playing what was supposed to be her final match at the 2022 U.S. Open — will compete at Wimbledon this month after scoring the final wild card spot to play in the Grand Slam singles competition, according to Yahoo! News.
The 44-year-old champion reportedly hesitated after losing a doubles match in Berlin, but she decided to go for the tournament after Wimbledon held open the final women’s singles wild card spot, according to the Associated Press.
Serena and her sister Venus, 46, who recently set records for being the oldest woman to win a tour-level match, were already scheduled to compete in the doubles tournament – their first appearance as a tennis-phenom pair since 2016.
Serena claimed in 2022 that she was “evolving away” from tennis and had her second daughter in 2023. She just won a doubles match with partner Victoria Mboko at Queen’s Club in London last week, but they had to withdraw after Mboko injured her knee.
The Women’s Tennis Association plugged this latest comeback, which set off waves of anticipation and some skepticism among fans.
“Name a more iconic return…we’ll wait,” the association wrote on social media.
“This is not a drill,” Wimbledon announced on its social media accounts.
Her first-round opponent will be announced on Friday.
