We have not seen the last of Serena Williams.
Wimbledon said Tuesday that it has awarded the 23-time major champion a wild card for this year's tournament. The announcement followed Williams' Instagram post in which she teased that she would play Wimbledon, ending a yearlong absence from tennis.
“SW and SW19. It’s a date. 2022 See you there,” Williams wrote in the caption of the photo, which showed her wearing all-white shoes with her tennis bag in the background.
SW19 is the postal code for Wimbledon. Williams also tagged Wimbledon in the photo.
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Williams hasn’t played since withdrawing in the first round of last year’s Wimbledon after slipping and injuring her ankle. With few updates about her health, and with longtime coach Patrick Mouratoglou now working with Simona Halep, some had suggested the 40-year-old would quietly retire.
But Williams clearly has other plans. In addition to tagging Wimbledon in her IG post, she tagged the Eastbourne International, a warm-up tournament that is played a week before Wimbledon.
Williams has won Wimbledon seven times, most recently in 2016. She also reached the final in 2018 and 2019.
Williams’ 23 Grand Slam titles are one shy of Margaret Court’s record.
