Serena Williams has refused to rule out a tennis comeback, just under two months after she definitively denied a return to the sport in which she won 23 Grand Slam singles titles.
In December, the appearance of Williams’ name in the tennis anti-doping test pool, a prerequisite for returning to the sport, raised the possibility of her playing again.
Rejoining the pool means Williams, 44, is subjecting herself to tennis’ whereabouts rules, which entails accepting the possibility of random drug testing, and remaining in a certain place for an hour a day. In response, she wrote on X December 3: “Omg yall I’m NOT coming back. This wildfire is crazy.”
But appearing on the “Today” show Wednesday, Williams was again asked if she was planning a comeback to the sport she dominated for almost two decades. On this occasion, she gave a series of non-committal responses.
“I mean, really? Are you asking this on the Today show? Oh my goodness,” Williams said, glancing around the studio. When pushed on whether that meant the answer was no, she laughed and said: “Now people on set are laughing. It’s distracting. I’m just having fun and enjoying my life right now.”
Is that a yes or no, asked “Today” host Savannah Guthrie. “I don’t know, I’m just going to see what happens.”
“It’s not a maybe,” Williams said when Guthrie replied “that’s a maybe to me.”
Williams added that she has two kids (Alexis Olympia, 8 and Adira River, 3) and recently called herself a stay-at-home mom and housewife as her occupation when filling out a form. Asked about the reentering the testing pool, Williams said: “Did I reenter? I don’t know if I was out. Listen, I can’t discuss this,” she said, laughing.
Told that if she wanted to put the rumors to bed this would be a good time to do so, Williams said: “If I want to put it to bed … Listen, I want to go to bed — it’s early.”
Representatives for Williams were not immediately available for comment.
Players in the pool have to be available for daily testing for six months before being allowed to play a competitive event.
Formerly retired players are eligible to return to competition once they have spent six months in the testing pool, and Williams’ name appeared on an updated list of players dated Oct. 6 last year. That would make her eligible to return for the French Open, which is the next Grand Slam and a tournament she has won three times in singles and twice in doubles. The U.S. Open mixed doubles event in August would also appear to be perfect for a player looking to return, with its shorter format and preference for singles stars rather than doubles specialists.
Williams, who last played in 2022 and avoided using the word “retirement” in announcing her “evolving away” from the sport, has shared footage of herself practicing on social media. Last year, she said that she she lost 31 pounds over eight months by taking Zepbound — a GLP-1 drug similar to Wegovy, Mounjaro and Ozempic. She is an ambassador for Ro, a health company that markets and prescribes GLP-1 drugs; Williams’ husband, Alexis Ohanian, sits on the company’s board.
Her elder sister Venus, 45, has made a comeback of her own over the last year or so, competing at the U.S. Open in singles and doubles, and in both disciplines at the Australian Open earlier this month. She lost in the first round at both but performed well on both occasions. At the Citi Open in Washington D.C. last summer, she beat the then-world No. 35 Peyton Stearns in straight sets in her first tournament for 16 months.
Venus’ encouraging return, coupled with Serena’s non-denial of her comeback, also keeps alive the possibility of the Williams sisters competing in doubles together in New York, which would give them the chance to win a 15th Grand Slam title as a pair.
