Serena Williams gets the green light for a long-awaited return

For some time now, there have been rumors about a possible return to tennis by Serena Williams, something fans have long hoped for and that until recently seemed unlikely, if not impossible.

In the past few hours, however, something has changed. The former world No. 1 has been included on the list of players eligible to return to competition as of February 22 by the sport’s anti-doping authority, the ITIA, a mandatory step for any player considering a comeback. 

The 44-year-old, who won her last Grand Slam singles title in 2017 and has not competed since the 2022 US Open, surprised many late last year when she rejoined tennis’s anti-doping testing pool. 

At the time, she denied that the move meant she was preparing to return to the sport she dominated for nearly two decades.

Last month, she reignited the speculation by sidestepping questions about a possible comeback during an appearance on NBC’s Today show.

As things stand, the possibility of seeing the widely regarded greatest player of all time back in action remains very much alive.