Serena Williams Delivers Mic Drop Moment After First Match Since 2022
Serena Williams purposefully avoided using the word “retire,” rather telling Vogue that she was “evolving away from tennis” in August 2022.
When Williams lost to Ajla Tomljanovic in the third round of the US Open in September 2022, it was understood to be her last match for the foreseeable future, if not ever.
But the 23-time Grand Slam singles champion knew what she was doing by refusing to call herself retired.
We saw it at the HSBC Championships on Tuesday.
Williams, 44, and emerging Canadian phenom Victoria Mboko, 19, defeated Nicole Melichar-Martinez and Erin Routliffe in straight sets in the first round of the doubles draw at Queen’s Club in London. At one point, in her first match in nearly four years, Williams zipped a 120 miles-per-hour serve. Of course she did.
Afterward, Williams was asked why she chose to return now and what she has planned moving forward.
“I had nothing better to do,” Williams said. “I got tired of sitting at home. My kids are out of school for the summer, so why not?”
Last Sunday, Williams shared that her primary motivations for playing professional tennis again were her daughters, Olympia, 8, and Adira, 2, with husband Alexis Ohanian.
“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 to just to gain.”
She added, “It’s really about my kids getting to see me play. I mean, Olympia is a little bit older. Adira is very young. But it’s also having an opportunity to still be able to do possibly do that one last time is kind of cool and exciting.”
As for the extent of Williams’ comeback, that is open-ended. The Berlin Tennis Open announced last week that it “can’t wait to welcome” Williams to its grass court from June 13 to June 21, so we know Williams will play beyond this week’s HSBC Championships. But she would not commit to a full-blown singles revival when meeting with the press Sunday.
“I can’t say yeah, I can’t say no,” she said. “Right now, no. I feel like I probably need to train a little bit more if I want to play singles. We’ll see if I get there, and if not, that’s not my journey right now.”
For now, Williams and Mboko will face Leylah Fernandez and Laura Siegemund in the doubles quarterfinals on Thursday.
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This story was originally published June 9, 2026 at 3:10 PM.