Serena Williams is returning to professional tennis at the age of 44 after nearly four years away from the sport.<\/p>\n
The 23-time grand slam singles champion has accepted a wildcard invitation to play doubles at the upcoming Queen’s Club grass-court tournament in London, the WTA Tour has announced.<\/p>\n
Williams also made a sponsored post with Nike on social media with the caption: “Guess everybody heard the news.”<\/p>\n
The post had a video with her phone ringing, during which she said: “I got to change my number.”<\/p>\n
The Queen’s Club tournament starts next Monday and the WTA has said Williams will play “with a partner to be announced in due course”.<\/p>\n
A return on grass will raise speculation that Williams also plans to compete at Wimbledon, which starts June 28. She has won seven singles titles at the All England Club.<\/p>\n
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Email us abcsport5050@your.abc.net.au<\/a><\/p>\n “Queen’s Club feels like the perfect place to begin this next chapter,” Williams said in a statement.<\/p>\n “Grass has given me some of the most meaningful moments of my career and I’m excited to be back competing on one of the sport’s most iconic stages.”<\/p>\n Williams has not competed since bidding farewell at the 2022 US Open but at the time, Williams said she did not want to use the word “retiring”<\/a> and instead declared that she was “evolving” away from tennis.<\/p>\n “Serena brought the game to another level and it is incredible for the sport that she’s pushing the boundaries and coming back,” said Martina Navratilova, the previous oldest former world number one to launch a comeback, at 43 years and 10 months.<\/p>\n