Serena Williams is suiting up again at age 44, returning to professional tennis with a wild card into the women's doubles at the HSBC Championships at The Queen's Club in London next week. It will be her first competitive match since she stepped away after the 2022 U.S. Open and a high-profile reappearance on the London grass where she collected multiple Wimbledon titles. The announcement dropped Monday and quickly took over sports pages and social feeds.
According to AP, Williams has accepted a wild card to play in the Queen's Club doubles draw. The tournament listing at WTA shows the event runs June 8–14 with a 16-pair doubles field, and women's doubles play is scheduled to begin Monday, June 8.
Partner Tipped: Victoria Mboko
Multiple reports, along with an episode of the Served podcast, have suggested Williams will pair with 19-year-old Canadian Victoria Mboko, a rising Top-10 player. That potential partnership was first flagged in UK coverage, then picked up internationally, per SportsBusinessJournal. Tournament organizers have confirmed that Williams will play doubles but have not yet published official pairings for the draw.
Where This Fits In Serena's History
Williams' resume includes 23 Grand Slam singles titles, the most by a woman in the Open Era, a tally tracked and contextualized by the WTA. Her last competitive match was a three-set loss to Ajla Tomljanović at the 2022 U.S. Open, an emotional night widely treated as a farewell to full-time competition, as covered by ESPN.
What It Means For Queen's And The Grass Swing
The Lawn Tennis Association's event guide presents the HSBC Championships as a key Wimbledon warm-up, with official schedule and travel details for The Queen's Club in West Kensington and the women's main draw listed for June 8–14. Williams' appearance is expected to spike ticket demand and international attention for the WTA 500 stop at the historic venue, and organizers say the return of a global icon will be a major draw for fans.
Whether this is a one-off celebration or the start of a limited comeback is still unclear. Williams re-entered the sport's registered testing pool late last year, a procedural step that made her eligible to compete again after the required period, and she teased the Queen's news on social media with the caption "Good news travels fast," per Yahoo. Boston 25 News first highlighted the U.S. angle on the announcement, and tournament directors have called Williams' return a major boost for fans and the event.
