See you at Wimbledon, Serena! 23-time Grand Slam champion Williams cleared all doubts about her participation in London by confirming she will be in the grass slam
- 23-time Grand Slam winner Serena Williams will play at Wimbledon
- She wasn’t on the entry list and question marks surrounded her
- She posted a photo on Instagram on Tuesday claiming she will be traveling to London
- Williams has not played competitive tennis since losing at Wimbledon last year
- She will play doubles with Tunisia’s Ons Jabeur next week in Eastbourne
In her fifth decade, Serena Williams is still making others do their bidding, with Wimbledon forced to bring her wildcard announcements forward to yesterday.
The original list, originally due tomorrow, was quickly released after the 40-year-old American took to social media to announce she was returning to the All England Club.
‘SW and SW19. it’s a date See you there,” Williams wrote.
Serena Williams posted a photo of her Nike trainers on grass on Tuesday as she confirmed she will return to the Wimbledon court later this month
Williams has not played competitive tennis since she was in tears at Wimbledon in 2021 after retiring injured, just six games in a first-round match with Aliaksandra Sasnovich
Williams silenced rumors that she might be retiring after teasing a Wimbledon return alongside NFL star Aaron Rodgers (right) at a bitcoin event in April
She was the most significant of six women and seven men who were granted privileged entries into the singles, guaranteeing at least £50,000 to participants in the main draw.
It’s a boost for a tournament robbed of several stars from Russia and Belarus and possibly Rafael Nadal.
How strong Williams will be is another matter. Her only warm-up is in Eastbourne next week, where she plays doubles against Tunisian Ons Jabeur.
Williams has not played since limping from Wimbledon last year with a leg injury and is at a modest 1.208.
In 2019, Williams (right) finished second to Simona Halep (left) at Wimbledon, with the Romanian now working with her long-time coach Patrick Mouratoglou
She only managed six games in the 2021 edition before going down 3-3 in her first round and she has hardly been seen in the game since.
Ryan Peniston, also awarded a wildcard, stunned French Open finalist Casper Ruud 7-6, 7-6 in the first round at the Queen’s.
Peniston, from Southend, who overcame a fear of cancer as an infant, was educated at an academy in Nice from the age of 13.
She is married to Reddit founder Alex Ohanian (left). The couple have a daughter together named Olympia who was born in 2017. Pictured: The couple together at the Vanity Fair Oscar Party
He then attended the University of Memphis, from where he launched an unprecedented career.
“I went out with nothing to lose and tried to think about it,” said world No. 180 Peniston, 26, after his first match on the ATP Tour ended in victory.
Katie Boulter, who tops the list of British women awarded a wild card from Wimbledon, defeated in-form American Alison Riske 6-4, 6-3 in the first round of the Rothesay Classic in Birmingham.