Serena Williams to make Wimbledon singles comeback with wildcard entry

Serena Williams will return to Wimbledon singles competition after organisers awarded the retired tennis icon a wildcard for this year’s championships.

The All England Club announced on Sunday that Williams, a seven-time Wimbledon singles winner, had secured one of eight wildcard places in the women’s draw ahead of the tournament starting in a week.

Wimbledon celebrated the announcement on social media with a post reading: “This is not a drill,” accompanied by an image of Williams standing on grass under the caption “Serena returns.”

“@serenawilliams will compete in the 2026 ladies’ singles at #Wimbledon as a wild card,” the statement said.

Williams, now 44, stepped away from professional tennis in 2022 and has not competed in a singles match since that year’s US Open.

The American great has, however, made recent appearances in doubles events. Last week at Queen’s, she partnered teenage Canadian player Victoria Mboko and reached the second round after defeating Nicole Melichar-Martinez and Erin Routliffe.

Their campaign ended early after Mboko suffered an injury before their next scheduled match.

This week, Williams teamed up with Karolina Muchova at the Berlin Open, but the duo exited in the first round.

Serena will also compete in the Wimbledon doubles tournament alongside sister Venus Williams after the pair were also awarded a wildcard entry.

The sisters have won six Wimbledon doubles titles together, with their last triumph coming a decade ago.

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