Serena Williams not ruling out a singles return ahead of her doubles comeback at Queen’s Club

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LONDON (AP) — Tennis great Serena Williams is not ruling out a return to singles competition but suggested Sunday it's not imminent ahead of her doubles comeback in the sport she dominated for two decades.

First up for the 23-time Grand Slam singles champion is the doubles tournament at Queen’s Club, marking her first competitive tennis since the 2022 US Open.

“I can’t say no right now, I feel like I probably need to train a little bit more if I want to play singles, and we will see if I get there, and if not… that’s not my journey right now,” Williams said in an eagerly anticipated press conference on Sunday.

Williams will play alongside 19-year-old Canadian Victoria Mboko, who is 25 years her junior. Their first match is scheduled for Tuesday against third seeds Nicole Melichar-Martinez and Erin Routliffe.

The 44-year-old Williams has not competed since bidding farewell at the 2022 U.S. Open. At the time, she said she didn’t want to use the word “retiring” and instead declared that she was “evolving” away from tennis.

Williams, who shares her two daughters with Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian, revealed that as recently as December she believed she “definitely was not” returning to tennis, but, after some conversations, thought: “Well, why not? For lack of a better explanation.

“It’s summer, the kids aren’t in school, so it’s a perfect time to get out there, have fun, and see what happens.”

Williams won seven Wimbledon singles titles and six at the U.S. Open before stepping away from the game. She won 14 Grand Slam doubles titles, including six at Wimbledon and two at the U.S. Open — all with her older sister Venus Williams.

She says she is liberating herself of any expectations ahead of her comeback.

“I don’t need to win,” Williams said. “I’ve won more than most people have in their whole lives, so it’s not that important to me, and it’s important that I keep reminding myself of that, because I don’t have anything to prove.

“I don’t have anything to lose, and everything here is just to gain … This whole journey is like, I’m putting no pressure on myself.”

In Mboko, Williams saw something, she said, “that reminded me a lot of myself” in her attitude, resilience and drive. After making the “pretty 11th-hour commitment” to Queen’s, she reached out to the Canadian via text message.

Mboko said: “She’s hitting great. She has such clean ball striking, she could probably take years off, and when she steps on the court she could probably find that rhythm again and find her timing. So I think that’s really a God-given gift that she has.

“I personally think she’s ready to go. I’m hitting with her, she’s hitting pretty big and she’s really fit, so we’ll see.”

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AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis