Serena Williams sets return to tennis after 4-year absence at HSBC Championships

What’s happening? Serena Williams, 44, arguably the greatest women’s tennis player of all-time, will return to the court for the first time since the 2022 US Open next week. Williams has been confirmed as a participant in the 2026 HSBC Championships hosted at The Queen’s Club in West Kingston, London, England, after spending the last four years away from the game.

What Williams said: “Queen’s Club feels like the perfect place to begin this next chapter. Grass has given me some of the most meaningful moments of my career, and I’m excited to be back competing on one of the sport’s most iconic stages.”

What it means: The longtime world No. 1 — with 23 Grand Slam singles titles, 14 Grand Slam doubles titles and four Olympic gold medals to her name — will participate in the HSBC Champions as a wild card entry into the 16-team doubles draw, which runs from June 8-14. Williams is not coming out of retirement, per se, as she never officially hung up her racket. Rather, she said in 2022 that she would be “evolving away from tennis,” which led Williams to focus on personal, business and charitable activities. While the HSBC Championships are often seen as a warm-up for Wimbledon, assuming Williams will play that event, at this juncture, is a stretch. Williams is a seven-time Wimbledon singles champion and six-time doubles champion alongside her sister, Venus.