Serena Williams is making a comeback. It was announced on Tuesday that the 40-year-old tennis superstar will be competing at Wimbledon this year after being awarded a wild-card entry for singles. Williams went to Instagram to all but confirm the news by posting a photo of white tennis shoes with verdant grass and the caption, “SW and SW19. It’s a date. 2022 See you there.”
This will be the first time Williams will compete in a tennis tournament since suffering an injury during the first set of her first-round match at Wimbledon in 2021. Williams’ name didn’t appear on the women’s single entry list released by the All England Club earlier this month. Williams was one of the six women given a spot in the singles draw. The other five are Katie Boulter, Jodie Burrage, Sonay Kartal, Yuriko Miyazaki and Katie Swan.
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Williams has had a lot of success at Wimbledon over the years. She has won the singles title at the All England Club seven times and has won the doubles title with her sister Venus Williams six times. The seven Wimbledon championships for Serena Williams are tied for the third-most all-time with Stefi Graf. Helen Wills Moody has the second most with eight, and Martina Navratilova has the most with nine.
After her injury at Wimbledon last year, Williams went to Instagram to react to not being able to compete. “I was heartbroken to have to withdraw today after injuring my right leg,” Williams said of the incident. “My love and gratitude are with the fans and the team who make being on centre court so meaningful. Feeling the extraordinary warmth and support of the crowd today when I walked on – and off – the court meant the world to me.”
During her time away from tennis, Williams spent time with her family and focused on other projects such as the movie King Richard which is about her family. The film was a big hit, and Will Smith, who played Richard Williams in the movie, won an Academy Award for his role.
“A lot of people get this different story of sports fathers—especially tennis fathers, who are really overbearing,” Serena Williams told Harper’s Bazaar earlier this year. “And that wasn’t necessarily my dad. Everyone’s like, ‘Well, how do you play tennis for so long?’ It’s because we weren’t raised in an environment where it was something that we abhorred.”
