Serena Williams is not done with Wimbledon just yet.
The 23-time grand slam champion has officially accepted a wild card to compete in the 2026 women’s singles draw, marking her first singles appearance at the tournament in four years. Wimbledon confirmed the news on June 21 with a typically understated Instagram post declaring, “This is not a drill”, alongside an image of Williams on grass with the words “Serena Returns".
For anyone loosely keeping tabs, yes, this is a big deal.
Williams, now 44, has not played a singles match at a major since the 2022 US Open, where she lost to Ajla Tomljanović in the third round. At the time, she famously avoided the word “retirement”, telling ESPN she was instead “evolving” away from tennis.
Evolving, it turns out, has included a slow but very real return to competition.
Earlier this month, Williams stepped back onto court at Queen’s Club in London, playing doubles with Canada’s Victoria Mboko. The pair picked up a straight-sets win before withdrawing due to Mboko’s knee injury. A few days later, Williams teamed up with Karolína Muchová at the Berlin Open, where they exited in the first round.
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And now, she’s heading back to the All England Club — not just for a nostalgic doubles cameo with sister Venus Williams, but for a full singles campaign.
The sisters had already been confirmed as wild cards in the doubles draw, with Wimbledon sharing a photo of the duo captioned, “Back together, at Wimbledon”. If that alone wasn’t enough to get longtime fans emotional, the singles announcement has effectively locked Williams in as one of the tournament’s biggest storylines before a ball has even been hit.
According to Williams, the push to return came from a pretty persuasive source: her eight-year-old daughter, Olympia.
“My daughter, Olympia, told me I should play with Venus,” she said at the Berlin Tennis Open last week, per WTA.
“She’s always right, so I was like, 'okay'.”
Williams added, “She’s very serious. She knows. She’s very smart. She’s very wise, I think, is a better word. So I said, ‘Okay, Olympia, let’s see if we can do it.’”
It’s a fitting full-circle moment for a player whose Wimbledon legacy is already locked in. Williams has won seven singles titles at the tournament, first lifting the trophy in 2002 and last doing so in 2016. She’s also claimed six doubles titles there with Venus and spent 319 weeks as world No. 1 across her career.
Wild cards, for the uninitiated, are typically reserved for players whose rankings don’t guarantee entry but whose presence undeniably elevates the event and it’s fair to say Williams ticks that box.
So, I guess Wimbledon 2026 just got a lot more interesting!
