Serena Williams shut down speculation that she could soon return to professional competition after the tennis legend took a major step in the right direction.

Across a storied 26-year professional tennis career, Williams achieved virtually every honor the sport could bestow. She captured 23 Grand Slam singles titles — the most in the Open Era — and 14 Grand Slam doubles titles alongside her sister, Venus, while additionally securing four Olympic gold medals in 2000, 2008 and 2012.

Despite her extraordinary achievements, it appears as though Williams feels she still has something left in the tank. On Tuesday, the 44-year-old informed the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) of her desire to reenter the International Registered Testing Pool.

While droves of tennis fans surmised that the move could mark the early stages of her playing comeback, Williams swiflty dismissed the rumors on social media. Taking to X on Tuesday, she wrote: “Omg yall I’m NOT coming back. This wildfire is crazy-.” 

The testing pool predominantly consists of the top 100 men’s and women’s singles players, elite doubles and wheelchair players, as well as players looking to play following a lengthy break. Speaking to The Athletic’s Matthew Futterman, ITIA spokesperson Adrian Bassett revealed that Williams’ presence in the pool didn’t necessarily guarantee she would return to competition. It did, however, provide her the opportunity to do so.

“She has notified us that she wants to be reinstated into the testing pool,” Bassett said of Williams over text. “I do not know if this means she is coming back, or just giving herself the option. All I can say is she’s back in the pool and therefore subject to whereabouts.” 

This is hardly the first time that Williams has sparked rumors about her potential playing comeback. Back in April, the American expressed confidence that she could still compete at a high level. “I miss it a lot, with all my heart,” she told Time Magazine’s Sean Gregory. “I miss it because I’m healthy. If I couldn’t walk, or if I was so out of it, I wouldn’t miss it as much.”

Ultimately, though, Williams acknowledged the challenge of balancing professional commitments with family life. She and husband Alexis Ohanian have two daughters — Alexis Olympia Ohanian Jr. (Olympia) and Adira River Ohanian, born in 2017 and 2023 respectively.

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“I just can’t peel myself away from these children,” Williams explained. “Another reason I had to transition was because I wanted to have more kids. And I look at Adira and I’m like, ‘Was it worth it?’ I literally thought about it the other day. I was like, ‘Yeah, it was definitely worth it.'”

Though Williams has fully embraced her role as a mother since her last professional tennis match at the 2022 U.S. Open, she’s never officially ruled out a competitive resurgence. In an essay penned to Vogue magazine in August 2022, the Saginaw, Michigan native stopped short of announcing her “retirement” — instead describing it as an “evolution.”

“Maybe the best word to describe what I’m up to is evolution,” Williams wrote. “I’m here to tell you that I’m evolving away from tennis, toward other things that are important to me.”