Serena Williams returns to singles at Wimbledon

After coming back in doubles, Serena Williams is preparing for her first official Wimbledon singles match in nearly four years, stepping onto grass with wild-card entries and a spotlight she can’t avoid.

Serena Williams is getting ready for a first-round Wimbledon singles match on a court where the spotlight has followed her for decades—and where she still has seven Wimbledon singles titles.

The 44-year-old makes her singles return at the grass-court Grand Slam that starts Monday, after initially coming back earlier with doubles matches. She has played two doubles warmup matches recently, but hasn’t contested an official singles match in nearly four years.

Mary Joe Fernandez, an ESPN commentator who coached Williams as Fed Cup captain and on the U.S. Olympic team. called the decision “a sign of confidence” that Williams is prepared to enter the sport’s most prestigious tournament without having played a singles match in so long. “But if anybody can do it,” Fernandez said, “it’s Serena.”.

Patrick McEnroe, also an ESPN commentator, framed it as a signature move. “I would call this Serena being Serena. It’s very Serena-like to do something audacious like this and I didn’t think for one minute she was coming back to play doubles (only).”

Williams has accepted wild card invitations for both singles and doubles from the All England Club, with Venus Williams as her doubles partner.

Her return this month has already included two doubles matches with two different partners. She won with Victoria Mboko at Queen’s Club and lost with Karolina Muchova at the Berlin Open. Her powerful serve and returns have shown up again. but the key question remains how she will cover the entire court and how much stamina she can manage in singles.

No one appears to doubt her credentials. She has 23 Grand Slam singles titles. including seven at Wimbledon. and 14 more in doubles—all of them won with Venus as her partner. McEnroe said the most immediate test is whether she can compete right away. “Hopefully she’ll be able to be competitive right off the bat,” he added.

The Williams sisters already shared an unforgettable grass-court connection at the All England Club. Serena swept the singles and doubles (with Venus) titles at the 2012 London Olympics. when tennis was held on the grounds of the All England Club. She also was the Wimbledon runner-up four times in singles.

Her first-round opponent will be determined when the singles draws are held on Friday. Then her opening match will be either next Monday or Tuesday.

“ No one’s going to want to face her,” Fernandez said.

Her first-round doubles match will come later in the opening week.

With all of the attention on Williams. the tournament picture still isn’t shaped around her—she’s by no means the favorite for the trophy. Among the top contenders are top-ranked Aryna Sabalenka, 2022 champion Elena Rybakina, and freshly crowned French Open champion Mirra Andreeva. Andreeva, who is 19, is 25 years younger than Serena.

Sabalenka is trying to rebound after a crushing defeat at Roland Garros, where she let a big lead slip away and didn’t win a game in the third set of a loss to Diana Shnaider in the quarterfinals.

Rybakina is known as one of the game’s best servers, and her style is said to adapt well to grass.

Andreeva reached the quarterfinals in London last year and enters with more confidence after her performance in Paris.

Iga Swiatek is the defending champion and also moves well on grass.

Since Serena has no ranking and won’t be seeded, she could potentially face any of the top players in the opening round.

The men’s field has its own storylines too. With Carlos Alcaraz sidelined with a right wrist injury that also kept him out of the French Open. Jannik Sinner is favored to defend his title—even after his stunning second-round meltdown in a Paris heat wave. McEnroe said, “It’s Sinner and then it’s everyone else,” describing the hierarchy on the men’s side.

French Open champion Alexander Zverev has never been past the fourth round at the All England Club and lost his opening match a year ago.

Sinner’s biggest challenger could be 39-year-old Novak Djokovic, who—like Serena—is a seven-time Wimbledon champion. Djokovic is a 24-time Grand Slam champion overall, and he has reached the semifinals or better in his last seven appearances at the All England Club.

Fernandez said Djokovic is at his best on this surface. “He’s so comfortable on the grass,” she said. “This is for me is where he has his best chance to win another major.”

So with a combined age of 83, Serena and Djokovic could be set up for a repeat of 2015, when they won Wimbledon in the same year.

Serena’s return has already made the week feel different—because it isn’t just that she’s back. It’s that she’s choosing singles at Wimbledon, with no official singles matches to fall back on for nearly four years.

Serena Williams Wimbledon tennis grass court wild card singles return doubles Venus Williams Mary Joe Fernandez Patrick McEnroe Aryna Sabalenka Elena Rybakina Mirra Andreeva Iga Swiatek