Serena Williams will return to Wimbledon for the 2026 singles competition as a wild card, the tournament announced Sunday.
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The tennis legend and 23-time Grand Slam singles champion made her return to professional tennis earlier this month at the HSBC Championships in London, where she competed in the doubles event. That run ended prematurely after an injury to her doubles partner.
Last week, it was announced Williams and her sister Venus would play doubles together at Wimbledon — more than two decades after they won their first title together there.
The tournament begins later this month.
It marks a major comeback for the 44-year-old superstar, who announced in 2022 she was “evolving away from tennis” and had not competed in nearly four years.
Wimbledon holds a special place for Williams’ legacy: where she’s won seven singles championships. Her last Wimbledon titles were in 2016, winning the doubles event with her sister Venus and the singles event.
She last played singles at the 2022 U.S. Open, falling in the third round.
At a pre-tournament news conference for the 2026 Queen’s Club Championships earlier this month Williams emphasized she’s playing for the love of the sport — not glory.
“I don’t need to win. I’ve won more than most people have in their whole lives, so for me that is not important to me, and it’s important that I keep reminding myself of that because I don’t have anything to prove, I don’t have anything to lose, and everything here is just just to gain,” she said.
