Mumbai: Wimbledon and royalty have always been a natural fit. Almost fittingly, therefore, the hallowed greens of the All England Club will lay the carpet for modern tennis’ revered royalty to set foot once again.
Not just to play doubles, but singles too.
Serena Williams, the greatest player of all time in the women’s game and among the most decorated overall, received a late and last singles wildcard for the 2026 Wimbledon. At 44, the American legend accepted it, adding star value, firepower and intrigue to the grass-court Slam starting next Monday.
Williams last played a competitive singles match four years ago, losing in the third round of the 2022 US Open. Although showing flashes, she looked far from the player who dominated the women’s game unlike any other and gobbled up 23 Grand Slam singles titles. Her 23rd title came at the 2017 Australian Open, after that, she reached four Slam finals across 2018 and 2019 without securing the elusive 24th. In her last Wimbledon appearance in 2022, she was beaten in the opening round by a player ranked 115th. In the year before that, she slipped on Centre Court and retired mid-match.
Now, as a mother of two daughters aged eight and two, Williams has decided to step onto the grass again as the oldest player in the singles main draw.
Murmurs of her tennis return began earlier this season, and were confirmed when Williams signed up to play doubles at Queen’s earlier this month. Partnering teen Victoria Mboko, they won the first round before Mboko’s injury curtailed Williams’s comeback run. It was stalled in Berlin too – she and Karolina Muchova lost in the first round – before she set foot at Wimbledon, where she will also play doubles with sister Venus (her elder daughter Olympia suggested the partner choice, she said).
Playing singles, three months shy of turning 45, would be a completely different ballgame, even for a champion like Serena. There’s greater demand for movement, strength and stamina compared to doubles, and Williams’s footwork and ability to stay low will be tested on grass. Grass, though, is also where her most feared weapon—that serve of devastating consequences—could land more blows.
“She is not in London for a cameo,” Rick Macci, Serena’s childhood coach, wrote on X.
Williams is also not the kind to be in this simply for a feel-good flashback ride. Among her inspirations to get back out there were Venus, who played singles at the 2026 Australian Open at 45, and American ski star Lindsey Vonn, who turned up at this year’s Winter Olympics at 41.
“All these women coming back being so gosh darn good, I just felt ‘why not?’ At least for a little bit – this is not obviously forever,” Williams said in Berlin. “It’s not sustainable for me.”
It also wasn’t sustainable for a few other women who have attempted such late-career restarts.
Kim Clijsters, the former world No.1 and Williams’s big rival, launched another comeback bid in 2020 in her mid-30s after staying away for over seven years. She did not win any of her five singles matches across the 2020 and 2021 seasons.
Another former world No.1, Caroline Wozniacki, had a farewell at the 2020 Australian Open and returned in 2023. She made the fourth round of that US Open, losing to eventual champion Coco Gauff. The fourth round was as far as she could go in her four subsequent Slam appearances.
Angelique Kerber, a three-time Slam champion, came back in 2024 after an 18-month maternity leave but did not win any of her three Slam matches.
Unlike these players then, Williams is into her forties now. That only adds to the enormity of the challenge. But Williams loves a challenge. And Wimbledon loves royalty.
