Serena Williams is returning to competitive tennis after all.
Months after insisting on social media, “Omg yall I’m NOT coming back,” the 23-time Grand Slam singles champion announced on Monday that she’ll play professionally for the first time in almost four years at the HSBC Championships at the Queen’s Club in London.
Williams has been given a wild card entry into the doubles draw of the WTA 500 event, which begins June 8.
“Queen’s Club feels like the perfect place to begin this next chapter,” Williams said in a statement released by the tournament. “Grass has given me some of the most meaningful moments of my career, and I’m excited to be back competing on one of the sport’s most iconic stages.”
Williams, 44, teased the announcement earlier Monday by posting a video on social media that featured her phone‘s notifications going off constantly while she was seemingly practicing on the court.
“Good news travels fast,” Williams wrote on the post.
Multiple media outlets are reporting that Williams’ playing partner will be Canadian teenager Victoria Mboko, who is ranked No. 9 in WTA singles. Williams has won 14 Grand Slam titles and three Olympic gold medals in doubles with her sister, Venus Williams, as her partner.
It is not clear if Williams will participate in any other tennis events. Wimbledon, a Grand Slam event Williams won seven times in singles, begins June 29 in London.
Williams’ last professional match was a loss to Australian Ajla Tomljanovic in the third round of the U.S. Open on Sept. 2, 2002. She registered as retired with the International Tennis Integrity Agency the next day.
Last December, however, Williams re-entered the agency’s drug-testing pool. According to the ITIA website, retired players “may not return to sanctioned events unless they have made themselves available for out-of-competition testing for at least six months prior to the event in question.”
The move led to much speculation about a possible Williams return, leading to her social media post denying any such intentions.
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