Serena Williams Makes Stunning Return to Wimbledon Singles at Age 44, Teaming With Venus in Doubles Too

LONDON — Serena Williams is back on the grass at the All England Club, and this time she isn't just there to watch.

The 23-time Grand Slam singles champion will open her singles campaign at the 2026 Championships on Tuesday against Australia's Maya Joint, marking her first Grand Slam singles match since 2022. Williams will also team up with her sister Venus for women's doubles, with the pair set to face Colombia's Camila Osorio and Argentina's Solana Sierra in the first round on July 2.

The dual comeback has become one of the defining storylines of this year's tournament, overshadowing even the absences of top contenders such as Carlos Alcaraz and Lorenzo Musetti, both of whom withdrew from Wimbledon because of injury. Williams, 44, had not played in a Grand Slam singles draw since a third-round exit at the 2022 US Open, a tournament many assumed at the time would mark the final chapter of her competitive career.

Wimbledon organizers confirmed the move in an email to media outlets titled "Further Wild Cards for The Championships 2026," noting simply that Williams would receive the tournament's final ladies' singles wild card. The understated announcement belied the scale of the moment: a player widely regarded as the greatest in the history of women's tennis stepping back onto the same grass courts where she has won seven singles titles, six women's doubles championships and a mixed doubles crown.

Williams addressed her decision to return during a pre-tournament press conference at the All England Club on Sunday, offering a candid look at how unexpected the comeback has been even to her.

"I never thought I would do this again," Williams said.

The path back to singles began modestly. Williams played her first competitive doubles matches in years earlier this month, partnering Victoria Mboko for a win at the HSBC Championships at Queen's Club before teaming with Karolina Muchová in Berlin, where the pair lost. Those appearances were widely viewed as a trial run to see whether Williams' body and game could still hold up on grass, a surface she has long considered her best. Satisfied with the results, Williams and tournament organizers moved forward with a singles entry as well, with Wimbledon ultimately granting her the tournament's eighth and final wild card spot in the women's draw.

Because Williams has not competed regularly on tour, she carries no ranking and had no path to direct entry into the tournament, leaving the wild card as her only route into the singles draw. Her resume, however, left little doubt about her standing among the sport's all-time greats: in addition to her seven Wimbledon singles titles, Williams has won two Olympic gold medals on these same grounds, capturing singles gold at the London 2012 Games shortly after winning that year's Wimbledon title.

Williams' run at this year's tournament is considered difficult to predict given how long she has been away from top-level competition and how dependent her chances are on the strength of her early-round opponents. A potential second-round matchup looms against Alex Eala, a 21-year-old rising player from the Philippines who arrives in London on a strong run of recent form. Třetí-seeded defending champion Iga Świątek, who is chasing her second consecutive Wimbledon title after an early exit at the French Open, looms as a possible third-round opponent should both players advance that far.

Williams has been clear that the comeback is not about chasing another title, even as her competitive instincts remain sharp. She has said the decision to return to the court was driven in large part by her two daughters, Olympia, 8, and Adira, 2, who have rarely had the chance to watch their mother compete. Williams has also emphasized taking the experience one match at a time rather than mapping out a longer-term plan, even as the comeback raises natural questions about whether she might continue competing through the U.S. hard-court swing and into this year's US Open.

The doubles reunion with Venus carries its own historical weight. The sisters, who received a wildcard entry into this year's women's doubles draw, have not played Wimbledon doubles together since 2016, the same year Serena most recently won the event's singles title. The pair has won the Wimbledon doubles championship together six times and previously won an Olympic doubles gold medal on these same grounds at the 2012 London Games, part of a run of three consecutive Olympic doubles titles for the sisters dating back to the Sydney 2000 Games.

Beyond the Williams storyline, this year's Wimbledon field includes a number of notable threads on both sides of the draw. On the men's side, top seed Jannik Sinner is looking to defend his Wimbledon title after a surprising second-round exit at this year's French Open, while Novak Djokovic landed in the same half of the draw, setting up the possibility of a semifinal meeting between the two should both advance.

The tournament runs from June 29 through July 12, with American audiences able to follow the action across ESPN, ESPN2 and ABC, along with streaming coverage available through ESPN Unlimited, Hulu + Live TV and DirecTV. The women's singles final is scheduled for July 11, with the men's singles final following on July 12.

For now, the spotlight remains squarely on Williams as she prepares to step onto Centre Court once again, nearly four years after many believed her singles career had already reached its final chapter.