Serena Williams is shutting down buzz that she might be planning a tennis comeback.
“Omg yall I’m NOT coming back. This wildfire is crazy,” Williams wrote in a post on X on Tuesday.
The former tennis pro’s career became the focus of conversation after it was reported that Williams had requested to re-enter the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA)’s International Registered Testing Pool — a requirement for active players for drug testing.
According to the Atlantic, an ITIA spokesperson told the outlet that Williams’ re-entering the testing pool doesn’t make her potential return official. However, the rep said he does “not know if this mean she is coming back” or if Williams is “just giving herself the option” for a comeback.
“All I can say is she’s back in the pool and therefore subject to whereabouts,” Bassett said.
The reported move caused several of the retired athlete’s fans to question why she might be interested in re-entering the ITIA in light of her admission.
“Then why did you apply to reenter the testing pool?” one netizen wrote.
The rest of Williams’ fans weren’t as happy to see the tennis star’s news as several admitted to being in denial under the tweet.
“She retired, my denial did not. That’s the real wildfire here,” wrote a social media user.
Another wrote: “We have decided on your behalf.” Meanwhile, a third added: “The wildfire is a reflection of how much people miss you.”
Williams announced she would be retiring from professional tennis in August 2022 after she finished competing in the US Open.
She played her last match in September, which ended in a third-round loss to Ajla Tomljanović.
“These days, if I have to choose between building my tennis résumé and building my family, I choose the latter,” the mom of two wrote in a personal essay for Vogue.
“There is no happiness in this topic for me. I know it’s not the usual thing to say, but I feel a great deal of pain,” she shared. “It’s the hardest thing that I could ever imagine. I hate it. I hate that I have to be at this crossroads.”
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