Serena Williams Announces Her Return To Tennis In Nike Commercial

In 2022, Serena Williams hesitated to use the word ‘retire,’ and instead said she’d be “evolving away” from tennis, and now, almost four years later, we know exactly why she didn’t use the r-word.

She’s coming back. 

The 44-year-old announced Monday that she’s accepted a wild-card invitation to play doubles in next week’s HSBC Championships, at Queen’s Club in London. She’ll be teaming up with Canada’s Victoria Mboko, and it seems more like an evolution in her tennis journey and not a one-off.

“Queen’s Club feels like the perfect place to begin this next chapter,” Williams said in an announcement. “Grass has given me some of the most meaningful moments of my career, and I’m excited to be back competing on one of the sport’s most iconic stages.”

Williams toyed with fans this morning when she captioned a Nike-branded video “good news travels fast” on her social media pages. In the video, set on a tennis court, Williams’ phone can be heard pinging with constant messages and eventually a call. As she walks over to the bench —racket in hand— she vows to change her number as the words “guess everybody heard the news” flash across the screen.

Williams is largely considered one of the most influential figures in tennis history and sports as a whole. Her exhaustive list of career achievements includes 23 major women’s singles titles, the only player to win a Grand Slam in both singles and doubles, and four Olympic gold medals.

En route to GOAT status, she also became the highest-earning female tennis star of all time, with $94 million in career earnings. 

Her return next week, of course, also raises the question of whether she is gearing up to play Wimbledon, which begins on June 28.

Rumors first began to swirl about a potential return to the tennis court in December of last year when her name popped up in the sports anti-drugging body, the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA), which she’d need to get clearance from.

She shut down the idea, though, tweeting, “Omg yall I’m NOT coming back. This wildfire is crazy.”

Now that Williams’ return is just days away, see social media’s reaction below.