Serena Williams has many accomplishments. Her singles return at Wimbledon is more likely to end in a first-round loss than a miraculous late-game advance.
But does she know it?
Wimbledon’s decision to give Williams the final singles wildcard on Sunday was, of course, not surprising. She is a seven-time champion, arguably the best women’s player of all time, and will create a huge buzz at the tournament.
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If she wanted a wild card, she was going to get a wild card. Over the past few weeks, she has been cautious in her responses about whether she would try out for singles, but the idea of spending six months in a drug-testing pool to regain WTA eligibility and enduring hundreds of hours of training just to play doubles was simply unbelievable. Come.
Now that’s really happening. Nearly four years after playing what would have been her last match at the 2022 U.S. Open, and now pregnant again, she’s doing it again at age 44.
Bold, absurd, and totally Selena.
And perhaps it was inevitable.
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Tennis players are notorious for being terrible at retiring. They burn out, age, and become less competitive with age, but pain is such a part of them that many find it difficult to live without it. And there’s always that little kernel of what-if doubt that collides with championship egos: How good is this new generation? Really?
Most high-profile comebacks were short-lived and not particularly successful. The game progresses, the competition gets better, and the effects of age become apparent.
Logically, “But it’s Selena” shouldn’t apply. But it’s Serena, and it’s Wimbledon. If she can do it, she’ll do it there – on a surface that doesn’t require the physicality of a hard court and where the best serves in the history of women’s play can score points without doing anything else.
When I caught the right draw, I don’t know if my opponent panicked by playing Serena Williams on center court. It’s enough to convince her that it’s possible for someone who has done what he’s done so far and has any competitive edge left.
Serena Williams last played a singles match four years ago at the US Open.
(Robert Prange, via Getty Images)
But there are also risks. Even if this equates to losing a few games and reversing course, it’s not a legacy-altering risk because no one will remember or care. The risk is that it won’t work. She looks old and overwhelmed and is leaving with a worse taste in her mouth than when she first retired.
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After all, she is 44 years old and hasn’t competed in an official singles match in four years. Her preparation consisted of a few doubles matches, which showed that she still had the skills with the racket (no surprise there) but didn’t tell us anything about her movement or competitiveness.
At the professional level, playing doubles is very different from playing singles against women in their physical prime. And Wimbledon is a great place to jump in the pool.
Excitement is high, but expectations are low. Hopefully, she can make that message stick among the tens of millions of fans who adore her but don’t necessarily understand the realities of the sport.
And it’s still not entirely clear why Serena is doing this or what she thinks she can achieve. When she first returned a few weeks ago, she said she wanted her daughters to watch her play. That’s reasonable, but probably not all. There’s a lot of talk about her promotion of weight loss drugs, in which she has a financial stake, and film crews are following her, as every athlete these days needs a definitive documentary.
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But at the end of the day, it’s hard to imagine Williams putting herself out there like this unless she sees an opportunity to do something unique. Perhaps not a 24th Grand Slam title, but a quarter-final victory? Cicada? Does she see enough weaknesses in the touring women’s team now that the 44-year-old, who has more Grand Slam championships than all of the top 35 players combined, can step up to the plate?
This is an interesting experiment with risks on both sides. Even if Williams were to prove that he is still capable of winning high-level matches at this stage with little relevant tournament preparation, it would reflect poorly on the depth and quality of the WTA Tour. If she were to scatter off the court, it would probably be a bit of an embarrassment for the all-time champion and cause a lot of second thoughts about whether she should have even tried this in the first place.
Perhaps Williams is so confident in his play and the effort he put into getting back in shape that he doesn’t believe the worst-case scenario is possible. Maybe she doesn’t care.
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At 44 years old, what she’s trying to do would be nearly impossible, but it took a level of ambition that most of us can’t fathom to become the kind of person she is.
This result probably doesn’t satisfy the motivation that brought her back in the first place. But after going through all this just to make one more appearance at Wimbledon, not being able to compete in singles could have been even worse torture.
