{"id":711059,"date":"2026-06-02T20:14:15","date_gmt":"2026-06-02T20:14:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/711059\/"},"modified":"2026-06-02T20:14:15","modified_gmt":"2026-06-02T20:14:15","slug":"serena-williams-set-for-tennis-comeback-heres-how-five-women-stars-fared-after-retirement-u-turns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/711059\/","title":{"rendered":"Serena Williams set for tennis comeback \u2013 here\u2019s how five women stars fared after retirement U-turns"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tennis icon Serena Williams<\/a> is set to make her highly anticipated return to professional tennis<\/a> in London next week.<\/p>\n

The 23-time Grand Slam singles champion, now 44, will once again grace the courts, sparking excitement among fans.<\/p>\n

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Williams’ return places her among a distinguished group of female athletes who have stepped away from the sport only to make a comeback. Here are five other notable examples:<\/p>\n

Kim Clijsters<\/p>\n

Belgian star Kim Clijsters is a benchmark for successful second careers.<\/p>\n

Retiring in 2007 at 23 to marry and have her first child, her return two years later was spectacular.<\/p>\n

She clinched the US Open as an unranked player, adding another New York title and her first Australian Open before retiring again in 2012.<\/p>\n

A 2020 comeback proved less fruitful.<\/p>\n

\"Kim<\/p>\n

Kim Clijsters won a grand slam after returning (Getty)<\/p>\n

Martina Hingis<\/p>\n

Martina Hingis, the ‘Swiss Miss’, enjoyed a career across three distinct phases.<\/p>\n

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Winning all five Grand Slam singles titles before turning 19, she first retired at 22. A brief, injury-hit comeback three years later included a doping ban.<\/p>\n

Yet, in 2013, Hingis was back at 32, focusing solely on doubles, adding 10 more Grand Slam titles and an Olympic silver before her final retirement in 2017.<\/p>\n

Justine Henin<\/p>\n

Clijsters’ compatriot, Justine Henin, made a surprising retirement announcement.<\/p>\n

Aged 25, world number one and a seven-time Grand Slam champion, she quit in May 2008.<\/p>\n

Her return the following August saw her reach the Australian Open final in her first major back.<\/p>\n

An elbow injury forced her into a second retirement just a year later.<\/p>\n

\"Justine<\/p>\n

Justine Henin was at the top of the game when she first retired in 2008 (Rebecca Naden\/PA) (PA Archive)<\/p>\n

Caroline Wozniacki<\/p>\n

Serena Williams will follow in the footsteps of her close friend Caroline Wozniacki, though at a significantly later stage in life.<\/p>\n

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The Dane won the Australian Open in 2018 before retiring two years later.<\/p>\n

After two children, Wozniacki announced her return in summer 2023. She hasn\u2019t hasn’t played since the following year\u2019s US Open, but has never formally declared herself retired again.<\/p>\n

Jennifer Capriati<\/p>\n

American Jennifer Capriati’s career saw a different kind of hiatus.<\/p>\n

She didn’t officially retire mid-career but played only one match between August 1993 and 1996, a period marked by personal struggles including drug issues and a shoplifting charge.<\/p>\n

Reaching her first Grand Slam semi-final at 14, she claimed her maiden major title 11 years later, winning two Australian Open crowns and one French Open.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tennis icon Serena Williams is set to make her highly anticipated return to professional tennis in London next…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":711060,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[565],"tags":[64,63,6571,255608,1806,345601,127766,25910,6413,85,747],"class_list":["post-711059","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australian-open","tag-caroline-wozniacki","tag-grand-slam","tag-justine-henin","tag-kim-clijsters","tag-martina-hingis","tag-serena-williams","tag-sports","tag-tennis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/711059","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=711059"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/711059\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/711060"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=711059"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=711059"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=711059"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}