{"id":78850,"date":"2025-12-02T23:05:07","date_gmt":"2025-12-02T23:05:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/78850\/"},"modified":"2025-12-02T23:05:07","modified_gmt":"2025-12-02T23:05:07","slug":"serena-williams-insists-im-not-coming-back-despite-rumors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/78850\/","title":{"rendered":"Serena Williams insists ‘I\u2019m NOT coming back’ despite rumors"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Tennis great Serena Williams<\/a> took to X on Tuesday to insist that she is not planning a return to the court, hours after news broke that she has re-entered the sport\u2019s drug-testing pool.<\/p>\n

\u201cOmg yall I\u2019m NOT coming back,\u201d the 23-time Grand Slam singles champion wrote<\/a>. \u201cThis wildfire is crazy-\u201d<\/p>\n

Williams played her last match<\/a> on Sept. 2, 2002, a loss to Australian Ajla Tomljanovic in the third round of the U.S. Open. The next day, Williams registered as retired with the International Tennis Integrity Agency, which oversees anti-doping and anti-corruption efforts in the sport, meaning she was no longer subject to regular drug testing.<\/p>\n

An ITIA spokesperson confirmed to The Times on Tuesday that Williams is back in the agency\u2019s drug-testing pool. Retired players \u201cmay not return to sanctioned events unless they have made themselves available for out-of-competition testing for at least six months prior to the event in question,\u201d according to the ITIA website.<\/p>\n

That is why talk of a potential Williams comeback was spreading like \u201cwildfire\u201d before the 44-year-old attempted to extinguish the flames on X. The mother of two did not explain why she is back in the testing pool. A representative for Williams did not immediately reply to a request for comment from The Times.<\/p>\n

Omg yall I\u2019m NOT coming back. This wildfire is crazy-<\/p>\n

\u2014 Serena Williams (@serenawilliams) December 2, 2025<\/a> <\/p>\n

Williams famously avoided the word \u201cretirement\u201d<\/a> when she announced her plan to step away from tennis in an August 2022 column in Vogue.<\/p>\n

\u201cMaybe the best word to describe what I\u2019m up to is evolution,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019m here to tell you that I\u2019m evolving away from tennis, toward other things that are important to me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Older sister Venus Williams<\/a>, a seven-time Grand Slam champion, returned to the court earlier this year after a lengthy hiatus. During her run to the U.S. Open women\u2019s doubles quarterfinals with partner Leylah Fernandez, Venus Williams mentioned that her sister was \u201ccoaching from afar<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n