{"id":379281,"date":"2025-12-31T11:33:09","date_gmt":"2025-12-31T11:33:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/379281\/"},"modified":"2025-12-31T11:33:09","modified_gmt":"2025-12-31T11:33:09","slug":"mouratoglou-fuels-serena-williams-comeback-speculation-amid-2026-forecasts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/379281\/","title":{"rendered":"Mouratoglou fuels Serena Williams comeback speculation amid 2026 forecasts"},"content":{"rendered":"

Patrick Mouratoglou<\/a>, the long-time coach who guided Serena Williams<\/a> through her most dominant decade<\/a>, has sparked fresh speculation by expressing his desire to see the 23-time Grand Slam champion<\/a> return to the WTA Tour<\/a> in 2026.<\/p>\n

The French coach, speaking in a year-end review of the 2025 season on his YouTube channel<\/a>, highlighted Williams\u2019 recent physical transformation as a potential catalyst for an improbable comeback. \u201cWe have all seen the footage of Serena,\u201d Mouratoglou said, referring to social media posts showing the 44-year-old athlete in peak physical condition. \u201cShe looks so fit, so ready. I would love to see if she can compete at the age she has\u2026 because she\u2019s Serena\u201d.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Away from tennis since 2022<\/p>\n

Williams last competed at the 2022 US Open, where she bid an emotional farewell after a three-set loss to Ajla Tomljanovic in the third round. Eschewing the word \u201cretirement,\u201d Williams famously told Vogue in August 2022 that she was \u201cevolving away from tennis\u201d to focus on her venture capital firm, Serena Ventures, and to grow her family. Since her final match in New York, she has welcomed her second daughter, Adira River, in August 2023.<\/p>\n

Despite her departure, the door has never been fully closed. Shortly after the 2022 US Open, Williams told a San Francisco crowd, \u201cI am not retired. The chances [of a return] are very high<\/a>\u201c. In April 2025, she reiterated this sentiment to Time Magazine, stating, \u201cI miss it a lot, with all my heart\u2026<\/a> I miss it because I\u2019m healthy\u201d.<\/p>\n

Regulatory Smoke and Fire<\/p>\n


\n \"\"
\n <\/a><\/p>\n

The latest rumors were fueled by bureaucratic movements rather than just court-side nostalgia. In late 2025, the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) confirmed that Williams had officially re-entered the International Registered Testing Pool. Under anti-doping regulations, a retired player must be available for testing for six months before being eligible to compete in sanctioned events.<\/p>\n

ITIA spokesperson Adrian Bassett confirmed the move in early December 2025, stating, \u201cShe has notified us that she wants to be reinstated into the testing pool\u2026 I do not know if this means she is coming back, or just giving herself the option\u201d.<\/p>\n

Serena\u2019s Response to the \u201cWildfire\u201d<\/p>\n

While Mouratoglou and fellow legends like Novak Djokovic \u2013\u00a0who recently challenged Williams to \u201ccome back on tour next year\u201d \u2013\u00a0have encouraged the return, the athlete herself has moved to dampen expectations.<\/p>\n

On December 2, 2025, Williams addressed the growing speculation with a sharp post on social media platform X: \u201cOmg yall I\u2019m NOT coming back<\/a>. This wildfire is crazy\u201d.<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, analysts point to her older sister Venus, who returned to competition in July 2025 at age 45 without ever having announced a formal retirement, as a possible blueprint for a limited return, potentially in doubles. For Mouratoglou, the allure remains simple: \u201cNothing will ever replace competition in tennis\u2026 and Serena is Serena. Nothing is impossible for her\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Patrick Mouratoglou, the long-time coach who guided Serena Williams through her most dominant decade, has sparked fresh speculation…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":379282,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[442],"tags":[49,48,82,593],"class_list":["post-379281","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-sports","tag-tennis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/379281","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=379281"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/379281\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/379282"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=379281"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=379281"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=379281"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}