Serena Williams comeback? Rumours swirl over the return of the all-time great of women’s tennis
The rumours have been swirling around the tennis grapevine for sometime and we might not have to wait long before Serena Williams confirms she is making her return to tennis at the age of 44.
Mother-of-two Williams has posted some images on social media of her practicing and as she appears to be in the best physical shape she has been in for some time after revealing she has been taking weight loss drugs over the last year.
Yet it was her decision to return to the tennis doping programme last year that sparked the rumours of a potential comeback for Williams, with former world No 1 Jim Courier convinced she would not have made that move unless she was intending to make a return to the court.
“You have an app, it’s called the Whereabouts program. So you give one hour a day when you have to be there,” Courier explained to Wide World of Sports at the Australian Open in Melbourne.
“Most players do it at 6am or 7am in the morning when they know they’re going to be either in their hotel room or in their house, wherever they are going to be in the world because it’s literally 365 days a year.
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“It’s a huge hassle. The players all moan and groan about it… if you check out of a hotel, if you don’t change that on your app and they show up at your door that counts as one missed test. And if you miss three tests during the course of 12 months, that’s the same as failing a drug test so you are out for a while.
“So no person that doesn’t have intentions to play professional tennis is going to put themselves in that list, especially someone who has as much experience doing it as Serena Williams.
“Serena denied she’s coming back, but I think unless she gets injured, there is no doubt she’s going to play somewhere at some point.
“Whether that’s the mixed doubles at the US Open, whether that’s doubles with her sister (Venus) somewhere, whether it’s singles, only she knows. But there’s no other way to interpret that.”
There have been plenty of theories over where and when Serena might return, with former British No 1 suggesting she may only be planning to play doubles with her sister Venus.“For me, I think she might play some doubles with Venus,” said Rusedski, speaking on the first episode of his new podcast, Off Court with Greg.
“If Venus is hanging up the rackets, I think she has gone on the (doping) list to sign off with Venus, which started the Williams sisters’ story.
“What an amazing story. I think it’s the greatest story ever. You look at the Dad and they have made a movie out of this, King Richard. He said I don’t have one Michael Jordan, I have two Michael Jordans.
“What Serena and Venus did coming from Compton is incredible, so I think she has put herself on the list and will play doubles with Venus. It could be Wimbledon, it could be the US Open and boy, would I love to see that. I hope I’m there to see that in person if it happens.”
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Playing doubles for one last time with Venus would be a joyous end to one of the great stories in tennis, but the word filtering around Melbourne in recent days suggests Serena has more on her mind.
There is a theory that she feels she could take on the players at the top of the women’s game right now and even at the age of 44, this great champion is convinced there could still be more moments of glory to drain from her career.
She won 23 Grand Slam singles titles in her incredible journey and needs only one more to match Margaret Court’s all-time record of major wins in the women’s game.
Great champions never believe there is a barrier that is too tall for them to leap over and if Serena believes she can be a contender when the tennis world gets onto her favourite grass court surface next June and July, don’t be surprised to see her name back in a Wimbledon singles draw.
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