{"id":441191,"date":"2026-01-29T16:39:09","date_gmt":"2026-01-29T16:39:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/441191\/"},"modified":"2026-01-29T16:39:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-29T16:39:09","slug":"serena-williams-open-minded-about-return-to-tennis-im-gonna-see-what-happens-serena-williams","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/441191\/","title":{"rendered":"Serena Williams open-minded about return to tennis: \u2018I\u2019m gonna see what happens\u2019 | Serena Williams"},"content":{"rendered":"

Serena Williams has refused to rule out making a shock return to tennis. The 44-year-old has not played professional tennis since losing to Ajla Tomljanovic<\/a> at the 2022 US Open, although she branded her departure as \u201cevolving away\u201d<\/a> from the sport rather than a retirement.<\/p>\n

Williams brushed off speculation in December she was considering a comeback despite re-entering the sport\u2019s drug testing pool<\/a>. But the 23-time grand slam singles champion was not as dismissive about a return in an interview on NBC\u2019s The Today Show.<\/p>\n

\u201cReally, are you asking this on the Today Show? Oh, my goodness,\u201d Williams said when she was asked about a comeback. \u201cI\u2019m just having fun and enjoying my life right now. That\u2019s not a yes or no. I don\u2019t know. I\u2019m just gonna see what happens.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have two kids. I\u2019m a full-time stay at home [mother]. When I filled out a form the other day. Occupation? [I wrote] housewife.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pushed on whether she had re-entered the drug testing pool, Williams replied: \u201cDid I re-enter? I don\u2019t know if I was out. Listen, I can\u2019t discuss this.\u201d<\/p>\n

The world No 1, Aryna Sabalenka, who on Thursday reached the Australian Open final<\/a>, welcomed the possibility of a Williams return.<\/p>\n

\u201cI heard that she\u2019s enjoying her life and, whatever makes her happy, I\u2019m happy for her,\u201d said Sabalenka. \u201cIf she wants to come back, that\u2019s her decision. It\u2019s going to be fun to see her back on tour. She\u2019s got the personality, and she\u2019s a fun one. It will be cool.\u201d<\/p>\n

In December, when news broke that Williams had re-entered the drug testing pool she tweeted: \u201cOmg yall I\u2019m NOT coming back. This wildfire is crazy.\u201d<\/p>\n

There had been speculation Williams could reunite with her sister Venus, who is still playing on tour, for a doubles tournament.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Serena Williams has refused to rule out making a shock return to tennis. The 44-year-old has not played…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":441192,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[442],"tags":[49,48,82,593],"class_list":["post-441191","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\/441191","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=441191"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/441191\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/441192"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=441191"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=441191"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=441191"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}