Serena Williams has been granted a wildcard for the Wimbledon singles tournament

Serena Williams, an American tennis icon, is set to make a remarkable return to singles at this year’s Wimbledon after receiving the final wildcard from the All England Club on Sunday.

The seven-time Wimbledon singles champion had already secured a return to the championships for the first time in four years by accepting a doubles wildcard alongside her sister Venus.

This is not a drill,” the tournament stated in a post on its Instagram account.

The announcement that the 44-year-old mother of two will compete in singles will create a significant storyline for the Grand Slam tournament beginning on June 29. The 23-time Grand Slam singles champion made a return to the court after a four-year absence at this month’s Queen’s Club championships, competing in doubles alongside Canada’s Victoria Mboko. She participated in doubles in Berlin this week. Williams, celebrated as the greatest female tennis player of all time, last competed in a singles match at Wimbledon as a wildcard in 2022, where she was defeated by Harmony Tan in the first round. After that year’s U.S. Open, she mentioned that she would ‘evolve away from tennis,’ although she never officially retired.

Tournament organizers grant wildcards to players whose rankings do not allow for automatic entry. These are typically reserved for local players, those with distinguished career records, or prominent players making a comeback from injury. Williams made her debut at Wimbledon in 1998, advancing to the third round of the singles competition. She claimed the title for the first time in 2002, defeating her older sister, Venus, in the final, and subsequently established herself as the dominant force in the women’s game, accumulating a total of 319 weeks as the WTA world number one. Williams secured singles titles in 2003, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2015, and 2016 while also achieving six doubles victories at the grass-court major alongside Venus.