Serena Williams hints at shock tennis comeback after secretly re-entering testing pool
Tennis icon Serena Williams appears to have been secretly plotting a return to the sport, with her latest act pointing to a 2026 comeback.
Serena Williams has dropped the biggest hint yet that her competitive tennis return is imminent by re-entering the International Tennis Integrity Agency’s (ITIA) registered testing pool.
The 43-year-old claimed 23 Grand Slam titles – second only to Margaret Court’s 24 – and competed in her last professional match at the U.S. Open three years ago, where she lost to Aussie Ajla Tomljanovic.
While many thought that was that, Williams has continued to tease a return could be on the cards, with several pictures and videos posted to social media.
And as first reported by The Athletic, the mother of two’s name is included in the most recent list of players in the testing pool, dated October 6.
Per protocol, Williams officially declared herself retired with the ITIA in 2022, which meant she would no longer be subjected to routine drug testing.
The American’s name remains listed on the site as retired, but she would be eligible to return to competition after six months of being in the testing pool.
The organisation states retired players “may not return to sanctioned events unless they have made themselves available for out-of-competition testing for at least six months prior to the event in question”.
Williams therefore would be clear to compete for next year’s French Open, Wimbledon and US Open, but wouldn’t be cleared for the Australian Open.
It comes after Williams’ older sister Venus, 45, made her return to the WTA Tour in July following a 16-month absence.
After a first-round exit at the US Open, Serena expressed her admiration for her sister on social media and added, “P.S. I hope to be like you,” at the end of her post.
It is understood that Serena was considering playing doubles with her sister at the US Open, but she simply didn’t have enough time, given that it was within six months of the start date and she wasn’t in the pool.
Venus has repeatedly been asked about a potential Serena return in the past six months, and she admitted she would love her to return.
“I mean, I keep saying to my team, ‘The only thing that would make this better is if she was here,’ like we always did everything together, so of course I miss her,” Venus said at the Citi Open in July.
“But if she comes back, I’m sure she’ll let y’all know.”
After the rumour of her return spread, Williams posted on X saying: “Omg yall I’m NOT coming back. This wildfire is crazy.”
However, the only reason to re-enter the testing pool would be if she were at the very least seriously considering returning to the sport.
More likely than not, Serena means she has no plan to play singles again, but may team up with sister Venus as previously floated.
Originally published as Serena Williams hints at shock tennis comeback after secretly re-entering testing pool
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