Serena Williams signals possible return by rejoining testing pool

Could a Serena Williams comeback to professional tennis be in the works? The 23-time Grand Slam champion seems to have taken a significant step in that direction.

The International Tennis Integrity Agency confirmed Tuesday that Williams has notified the organization that she wants to be reinstated into the sport’s International Registered Testing Pool—a mandatory step for any player looking to return to professional competition.

Williams, 44, last played at the 2022 US Open, where she reached the third round, but intentionally left the door open for a return. Though she officially registered her retirement with the ITIA in September 2022, she never publicly used the word “retirement,” preferring to say she was “evolving away” from professional tennis.

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During her time away, Williams—now a mother of two (Alexis Olympia born in 2017 and Adira River born in 2023)—has focused on her growing business portfolio. She’s invested in several women’s sports properties, including Angel City FC and the WNBA, and continues to endorse multiple brands—including the weight-loss drug Zepbound, which contains GLP-1s, a substance currently monitored by WADA. She also made a cameo in the Super Bowl LIX Halftime Show, and recently helped induct her longtime rival Maria Sharapova into the International Tennis Hall of Fame.

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This isn’t the first time signs have pointed toward another Williams comeback. She has teased fans with social media posts of herself hitting on court with Olympia and photos showing off her toned physique.

The latest and clearest hint: her name appears on an updated list of players in the ITIA’s testing pool dated October 6 of this year, although she remains on the agency’s retired players list—with a retirement date of September 3, 2022—until any return becomes official.

The testing pool includes the Top 100 men’s and women’s singles players, elite doubles and wheelchair players, and any athletes looking to return to competition after a long break.

Players in the pool must provide their daily whereabouts year-round, and anyone reentering must remain in the pool for six months before competing. That timeline would make Williams eligible to return to competition as early as April 2026.