The All England Club confirmed on Sunday that Serena Williams, the 23-time Grand Slam singles champion, will compete in the ladies’ singles at Wimbledon after accepting the final wildcard. The decision, announced with the words “This is not a drill”, ends weeks of speculation and fuels anticipation for the fortnight beginning 29 June. Williams, 44, had already secured a doubles wildcard alongside her sister Venus, but the singles entry marks her first major singles appearance since the 2022 US Open.

The American’s path back to the grass of SW19 began with a low-key doubles appearance at Queen’s Club this month, where she partnered Canadian teenager Victoria Mboko. They won their first match before Mboko’s knee injury forced a withdrawal, but Williams’s movement and serve drew encouraging murmurs from British onlookers. A subsequent first-round loss at the Berlin Open with Karolina Muchova did little to dampen the sense that her physical readiness was growing. Observers in Germany noted her nimbleness and willingness to cover the court, though she herself remained coy when asked if she was “ready for singles”, responding that she needed to “get to work”. That work included practice sessions at Wimbledon last week, apparently persuading her that the time was right.

Wimbledon is where Williams has built much of her legend. Seven of her 23 major singles titles came on the London grass, and she reached the final as recently as 2019. Her last competitive singles match was a third‑round loss to Ajla Tomljanovic at the 2022 US Open, after which she said she was “evolving away” from tennis, deliberately avoiding the word retirement. Across the United States, her return is framed by the pursuit of Margaret Court’s all‑time record of 24 Grand Slam singles titles. At 44, and a mother of two, she now competes in an era dominated by Aryna Sabalenka and Iga Swiatek, yet the history she carries makes her presence a narrative unto itself.

The women’s singles draw will be made on Friday, where Williams could land any of the top seeds owing to her unranked status. Her opening match is likely to be scheduled early in the tournament, which runs from 29 June to 12 July. The doubles competition with Venus, their first together since 2022, offers a parallel storyline; the sisters own six Wimbledon doubles crowns. For the women’s game, seen from European and North American vantage points alike, the return of its most transformative figure injects star power into the post-Williams era and sets the stage for a week of high theatre on the lawns of the All England Club.