Serena Williams returns to Wimbledon, and this time she is playing singles.
The tennis legend, 44, has been awarded a wild card to compete in the 2026 ladies’ singles at Wimbledon, the tournament announced on its official Instagram account on Sunday (June 21).
“This is not a drill,” the story captioned the story alongside a photo of Serena on a grass field and the words “Serena is coming back.”
The tournament begins on June 29.
The singles announcement follows the announcement earlier this week that Serena would also reunite with her sister Venus Williams, 46, to play doubles at Wimbledon, with both also receiving wild cards for that event.
Wimbledon marked the revelation with a photo of the two sisters together on the court: “Back together, at Wimbledon.”
The return to professional tennis has been busy and somewhat turbulent for Serena.
On 9 June, she resumed her doubles career at the Queen’s Club Championship in London after almost four years away from the sport, partnering with Canadian Victoria Mboko to defeat Erin Routliffe and Nicole Melichar-Martinez in straight sets.
Two days later, both men were forced to withdraw after Mboko injured his right knee. Serena then competed at the Berlin Open on June 16, this time alongside Karolina Muchova, but the team lost in the first round.
Her last singles match took place at the 2022 US Open, where she lost to Ajla Tomljanovic in the third round. At the time, she said she preferred to think of herself as “moving on” away from tennis rather than retiring.
What brought her back? His daughter Olympia, eight years old.
“My daughter Olympia told me I should play with Venus,” Serena told reporters in Berlin. “She’s always right, so I was like, okay.”
She 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.'”
Wimbledon starts on June 29. Serena Williams will be there.
