Serena Williams will return to tennis later this month at Wimbledon after being awarded a wild-card invitation to the Grand Slam on Tuesday.
Williams, 40, hasn’t competed since sustaining a right leg injury at last year’s Wimbledon tournament. She retired in the first round of the Grand Slam.
The All England Club announced Williams was among the six women given a wild-card spot in the singles draw.
The 23-time Grand Slam winner hinted at a possible return at Wimbledon in an Instagram post on Tuesday morning. In the post’s caption, she wrote: “SW and SW19. It’s a date. 2022 See you there.”
“SW19” is the London postcode for the All England Tennis Club and is also a common reference to Wimbledon’s Centre Court.
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Williams’s Instagram post included a “Wimbledon” tag and an “Eastbourne” tag, the latter of which is a reference to the grass-court warmup event that starts Saturday. She will compete at Eastbourne after receiving a wild-card invitation in the doubles draw on Tuesday.
Williams also tagged her personal trainers, her hitting partner and the coach of her sister Venus Williams in the photo.
Neither Williams sister was on the original entry lists for Wimbledon, which was released earlier this month. Venus Williams was not among those who received initial wild-card invitations to the tournament, which begins on June 27.
Serena Williams has won seven of her 23 Grand Slam singles titles at Wimbledon, with her last victory at the All England Club coming in 2016. She also finished as the runner-up at the tournament in both 2018 and ’19.
Williams continues to hold the record in the professional era for most Grand Slam singles titles (23). She still narrowly trails Margaret Court, who won 24, for the most singles titles in history.
