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Serena Williams has taken the first step required before returning to tennis by registering with the sport's drug testing body, a spokesman for the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) said on Tuesday.
The 23-time Grand Slam champion, one of the sport's greatest players, has not competed since saying goodbye to the 2022 US Open. At the time, Williams said she did not want to use the word “retirement” and instead stated that she was “evolving” from tennis.
It was not immediately clear when or where — or even if — Williams would actually play again. Her agent did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Williams, now 44, was one of the biggest stars in any sport, a dominant talent on the court but one who nonetheless stole the spotlight. If she ends up returning to tour, it will be a major storyline.
Her decision to return her name to the ITIA testing pool, which oversees anti-doping and anti-corruption efforts, was first reported by Bounces.
“She is on the list and back in the testing pool,” ITIA spokesman Adrian Bassett wrote to The Associated Press on Tuesday.
Athletes returning for testing are required to provide their whereabouts information – details of their whereabouts when not at an official event and the times they are available to provide samples. Anyone who retires from a sport while on the list and then returns must be available for testing for six months before being allowed to return to competition.
Williams' older sister, Venus, returned to competition this July at age 45, nearly a year and a half after the tour; she never announced her retirement. At the US Open, Venus became the oldest player to compete in singles at an American Grand Slam since 1981.
When Venus, a seven-time major singles champion, returned to the DC Open, she expressed her desire for Serena to join her again on tour. As a pair, they won 14 Grand Slam doubles titles.
“I tell my team all the time: the only thing that could make things better is if she were here. Like, we always did everything together, so of course I miss her,” Venus said at the time when asked about a social media video of Serena swinging a racquet. “But if she comes back, I'm sure she'll let you all know.”
