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Tennis icon Serena Williams is officially ending her four-year hiatus from professional tennis. Rumors of a potential return circulated globally over the past week, leading Williams to post a video across social media<\/a> on Monday. The video, produced as an advertisement for Nike, showed her answering a ringing phone while standing on a tennis court, accompanied by the text, \u201cguess everybody heard the news\u201d and \u201cGood news travels fast.\u201d<\/p>\n The 23-time Grand Slam singles champion confirmed that she will make her competitive return<\/a> to the court this month, starting in the women\u2019s doubles draw at the HSBC Championships at Queen\u2019s Club in London, a WTA 500 grass-court tournament scheduled for June 8-14. Williams, 44, has accepted a wild card entry into the doubles field and is expected to partner with 19-year-old Canadian rising star Victoria Mboko, currently ranked No. 9.<\/p>\n Williams last played a professional match since her run at the 2022 U.S. Open, when she described her departure from the sport as \u201cevolving away from tennis\u201d rather than formally retiring. In recent months<\/a>, speculation about a comeback intensified after she re-entered the sport\u2019s anti-doping testing program and was seen training on court.<\/p>\n Because of her extended absence, Williams holds no official WTA singles or doubles ranking. During her career, Williams spent 319 weeks ranked No. 1 in the world, captured 73 singles titles, won 14 Grand Slam doubles championships alongside her sister Venus Williams, and earned four Olympic gold medals, boasting an 858-156 lifetime record in singles and a 192-35 mark in doubles. Her 23 Grand Slam singles trophies stand as an Open Era record, putting her just one major victory behind Margaret Court and Novak Djokovic for the most all-time tennis championships.<\/p>\n