Serena Williams has taken the procedural move required of any player contemplating a competitive comeback, after the 23-time grand slam singles champion re-entered the International Tennis Integrity Agency\u2019s (ITIA) registered testing pool for the first time since 2022.<\/p>\n
Williams, 44, has not played an official match since her run to the third round of the US Open<\/a> more than three years ago. Although she described her departure at the time as \u201cevolving away\u201d from the sport rather than a hard retirement, she filed the paperwork with the ITIA that September that exempted her from the sport\u2019s stringent whereabouts requirements. To return to competition, however, players must make themselves available for out-of-competition testing for six months before they are allowed to enter an event.<\/p>\n Williams\u2019s name appeared on the agency\u2019s updated testing-pool list dated 6 October. An ITIA spokesperson confirmed to the Guardian on Tuesday that Williams had requested reinstatement, while emphasizing that a place on the list is not itself evidence of a comeback.<\/p>\n \u201cSerena Williams is back on the Registered Testing Pool list,\u201d an ITIA spokesperson said, noting that athletes returning from retirement \u201cneed to make themselves available for testing for six months before they can compete again\u201d, in line with World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) regulations.<\/p>\n Later Tuesday, Williams publicly disputed that her inclusion in the pool signaled any plans to return. \u201cOmg yall I\u2019m NOT coming back,\u201d she wrote on X<\/a>. \u201cThis wildfire is crazy.\u201d<\/p>\n A representative for Williams did not immediately respond to questions from the Guardian about her intentions.<\/p>\n The ITIA\u2019s registered pool does not include every active player; it is largely reserved for top-ranked singles competitors, high-level doubles and wheelchair athletes, and pros coming back after extended absences.<\/p>\n Rumors about a possible cameo appearance at the US Open circulated quietly during this year\u2019s tournament, particularly around the mixed doubles event, which has evolved into a two-day showcase packed with star wildcards. But because Williams remained classified as retired at the time, she was not eligible to enter.<\/p>\n People familiar with the process have told the Guardian that Williams explored a return earlier than this autumn. One attempt to rejoin the testing pool was made in August, just before the US Open, most likely with the hope of playing doubles alongside her sister Venus. Those plans dissipated once it became clear that the six-month testing window could not be waived, a restriction that blocked Andy Roddick from a similar last-minute doubles cameo in 2014.<\/p>\n Venus Williams, 45, never formally retired and therefore avoided the same procedural hurdles. She returned this summer after a 16-month break, earning a singles win in Washington<\/a>, pushing No 11 seed Karol\u00edna Muchov\u00e1 to a deciding set<\/a> in New York and reaching the US Open doubles quarter-finals<\/a> with Leylah Fernandez. She is expected to resume her schedule in Auckland<\/a> early next season.<\/p>\n Serena\u2019s reappearance on the ITIA documents does not guarantee a comeback, but it does restore her eligibility timeline. If she remains in the pool without interruption, she could enter tournaments as early as mid-2026. Whether she intends to contest singles again, reunite with Venus in doubles, or simply preserve the option to do so remains uncertain.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Serena Williams has taken the procedural move required of any player contemplating a competitive comeback, after the 23-time…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":323621,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[565],"tags":[64,63,85,747],"class_list":{"0":"post-323620","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tennis","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-sports","11":"tag-tennis"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/323620","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=323620"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/323620\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/323621"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=323620"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=323620"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=323620"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}