When Serena Williams was seen leaving the Arthur Ashe Stadium in tears after a third-round exit at the 2022 US Open, everyone thought that she had bid farewell to the sport. Though she never announced an official retirement, she did admit to “evolving away” in order to focus on her family and business ventures. However, almost four years after her last competitive appearance, the 23-time Grand Slam champion is all set to make her much-awaited return.

Serena will be in action at the HSBC Championships, which is set to begin on June 8. It was confirmed on Monday that she will be entering the tournament as a doubles wildcard. The American herself confirmed her return through a statement where she described the HSBC Championships as the “perfect” event to begin this new chapter of her career.

“Queen’s Club feels like the perfect place to begin this next chapter. 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,” she said in a statement.

Serena also released a video on social media platforms simply titled, “Good news travels fast”, indicating her return. In the end of the video, she says, “I gotta change my number” as the graphics appear on the screen that reads: “Guess everybody heard the news.”

The rumors around the 44-year-old’s return to the sport had begun to arise earlier this year, in February. This was because she had become eligible to compete once again on February 22 after spending six months in the anti-doping testing pool.

The conversations around the comeback had erupted after American sports journalist Jon Wertheim had recently claimed that Serena had submitted wildcard requests to tournaments for the upcoming grass swing. He had also claimed that she would be entering the doubles draw at the event rather than competing in singles action.

“I have heard there have been multiple wildcard requests for grass court season,” Wertheim had said on the Served Podcast with Andy Roddick.

Additionally, Wertheim had also said that Serena will be partnering with World No. 9, Victoria Mboko, at the Queen’s Club. He has so far been correct with the majority of his claims on Serena’s return, and it remains to be seen if his prediction about her partner will also turn out to be true.

“Whatever it is, it is. Maybe it’s not anything that is going to pan out. But it does look like she will be playing the grass season. What I have heard is that she will be playing at Queen’s Club doubles with Victoria Mboko,” he added.

This is a developing story…