Serena Williams’ return to the WTA Tour has been one of the biggest stories in tennis as the American great will play a professional tennis match for the first time in nearly four years.
Williams signed up to play doubles at Queen’s after months of speculation that she might return to tennis and her appearance at the UK event as led to many believing she might play Wimbledon.
The American great is set to play doubles with Victoria Mboko at Queen’s to mark her return and there is plenty of excitement from tennis fans all over the world.
With speculation rife about Williams’ plans post-Queen’s, her former coach has waded into the debate about which tournaments she might play this year.
On X, Williams’ first-ever coach Rick Macci made a bold prediction about what the American would do upon her return to the sport.
Serena will play doubles and serve big and return bigger,” wrote Macci on social media. “The doubles is pre-game warm up to playing singles at Wimbledon and YES we will have a GOAT sighting at the US Open.”
Williams has not played the US Open since 2022, when she lost in the third round to Ajla Tomljanovic. To date, that is Williams’ last professional match, but that will all change at Queen’s when she plays doubles with Mboko.
Taking to Instagram, Mboko shared a picture of her and Williams at the London event. She wrote: “The Queen is back. An honour to share the court with one of the greatest athletes of all time this week. Even more excited to play doubles together! Tennis is pretty special.”
Williams’ last professional appearance in the UK came in 2022, when she played Wimbledon. It was a tournament to forget for the tennis icon, as she was beaten in the first round.
She lost to Harmony Tan in three sets, a player who was ranked outside the top 100 of the WTA Tour rankings.
Asked if her match against Tan marked her final Wimbledon appearance, she replied: “That’s a question I can’t answer. Like, I don’t know. Who knows? Who knows where I’ll pop up.”
Those words look pretty prescient now, as rumours swirl about Williams returning to the Grand Slam that she has won a whopping nine times.
Williams and Mboko will learn who they play in the first round of the doubles draw of Queen’s a before the event is set to take place, when the draw is made.
