Serena Williams courts drama once again as game of ‘will she won’t she’ goes on

The American last hit a competitive ball in 2022 but Instagram posts show her training again, with her motives still unknown

As was often the case in Serena Williams’s unparalleled tennis career, her time at the French Open in 2009 was far from straightforward. Her gritty performance in a third-round win against Spain’s María José Martínez Sánchez that went the distance was quickly overshadowed by a gamesmanship row after Martínez Sánchez refused to admit that one of Williams’s shots had struck her body, not her racket, before going back over the net. The point should have been awarded to the American.

An unimpressed Williams immediately protested to opponent and umpire. Then, once it became clear the point was a lost cause, she comically suggested Martínez Sánchez should probably not approach the net again. During her post-match press conference, Williams’s continued criticisms led to her uttering one of her more memorable quotes: “I’m, like, drama. And I don’t want to be drama,” she said, sighing. “I’m like one of those girls on a reality show that has all the drama, and everyone in the house hates them because no matter what they do drama follows them. I don’t want to be that girl.”

Those words have come to mind more than a few times in recent months. Williams had appeared to finish her illustrious career three and a half years ago at the 2022 US Open, describing herself as “evolving” away from tennis. Her life since has suggested she has at least partially filled the void left by the sport, giving birth to her second child, Adira River, in 2023 and reinventing herself as a venture capitalist.

Yet the tennis world remains on standby, because the evidence that Williams is potentially planning a comeback has become impossible to ignore. In the official eyes of the sport’s governing bodies, the 44-year-old is no longer retired. She is now free to enter any tournament she could wish to play, from any of the dozens of $15k (£11,200) ITF events in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, to the WTA 500 Charleston Open at the end of this month.

The rules are incredibly strict regarding comebacks. Once a player signs their retirement paperwork, they are shifted on to the retired players list, which is maintained by the International Tennis Integrity Agency. Should a player wish to return, they must rejoin the doping-test pool for six months before they can compete. In December, it emerged that Williams had applied for removal from the ITIA’s retired players list. Last month, on 22 February, she was officially reinstated.

While it is necessary, the World Anti-Doping Agency’s doping test system is invasive and inconvenient. There is simply no reason why anyone would willingly put themselves through the stress of having strangers entering their home at 6am, watching them closely as they urinate into a cup and drawing blood from their bodies on any day of the year for no reason at all.

Since news of her reinstatement circulated in December, the evidence of a potential return has grown. She has been training regularly at home in Florida with a variety of hitting partners, including the current world No 105, Alycia Parks. After her first-round win at the Miami Open on Friday, Parks told Bounces she did not know “if or when” Williams might return, but the pair had trained together on numerous occasions in recent months. On 2 March, Parks posted an Instagram video of them working hard on the practice court.

In true Williams fashion, there have been plenty of diversions. When the news initially leaked, she offered a categorical denial. By January, the tenor of her responses had shifted to non-committal spluttering. During an unrelated interview segment on the Today show in January, her denials had shifted to coy, non-committal comments. “Really? Are you asking this on the Today show? Oh my gosh,” she said. Williams also posted a video of her serving awkwardly, claiming it was the first time she had done so since the 2022 US Open.

Many wondered whether she might have been unimpressed by practice footage being leaked by Parks, but a day later Williams reposted it. Parks said the video had been co-produced by Williams, who actually wanted it to generate attention, underlining her penchant for drama. “We definitely talked about it,” Parks told Bounces. “We talked about it. She edited it, and she was like: ‘OK – let’s break the internet.’”

The question of why Williams may wish to return has been another source of intrigue. Some on the circuit believe that the nature of her Wimbledon farewell in 2022, a dismal first-round loss to Harmony Tan, still haunts her. Others wonder whether this is all part of a grand plan to publicise her shameless shilling of the Ro GLP-1 drug, of which her husband Alexis Ohanian is an investor. However, it seems unlikely that she would be willing to risk hurting her reputation by embarrassing herself on court simply for an advertisement.

Williams’s advanced age has led to suggestions that doubles alongside her sister Venus might be a more realistic goal. If she is to return, it is difficult to imagine that a competitor of her calibre would settle for the half-paced tempo of doubles, even if their 16 doubles grand slam titles mark them as one of the greatest pairs ever. The most sensible outcome here is she is keeping her options open, giving herself the chance to work her way back to optimal shape before making an informed decision.

Regardless of how this all pans out, these have been nostalgic and satisfying months. There is simply nobody like Williams, who for two and a half decades paired her all-time great playing career with unmatched theatrics and intrigue. There has never been a dull, uneventful day while following or covering her career. The first line of her job description is being an entertainer, a role she has played to perfection. Drama follows her to the ends of the earth, but in large part because she so often courts it. She loves it.

Since Williams took her first steps on to the tour in August 1995, it has been impossible to look away. Here we are again, still watching, trying to decipher her decision-making and wondering what her next move could possibly be.