Legendary tennis player Serena Williams will compete for the top prize in the women’s singles event at this year’s Wimbledon. The 23-time Grand Slam champion, who retired in 2022, has been awarded a wildcard for the singles competition at the third major of the year on Sunday (June 21).
The organisers of the All England Club released their initial list of wildcards on Sunday, with Serena, a seven-time Wimbledon champion, among eight players awarded a place in the women’s singles draw.
A social media post from the official Wimbledon Championships account read: “This is not a drill,” alongside a picture of Williams standing on a grass court captioned, “Serena returns.”
“@serenawilliams will compete in the 2026 ladies’ singles at #Wimbledon as a wild
card,” the post added.
This is not a drill.@serenawilliams will compete in the 2026 ladies’ singles at #Wimbledon as a wild card. pic.twitter.com/1vHnDEQ4xm
— Wimbledon (@Wimbledon) June 21, 2026
The 44-year-old former world No. 1 and 23-time Grand Slam singles champion has not played a singles match since the 2022 US Open.
However, she did make one appearance at Queen’s last week alongside Canadian teenager Victoria Mboko. The pair defeated third seeds Nicole Melichar-Martinez and Erin Routliffe before an injury to Mboko forced them to withdraw from the tournament without playing another match.
Williams and her Czech doubles partner Karolina Muchova then lost their opening match at the Berlin Open this week, just hours after Serena and her sister Venus Williams were awarded a wildcard to compete in the Wimbledon doubles event.
The Williams sisters are six-time Wimbledon doubles champions, having last lifted the trophy there a decade ago.
