Tennis legend Serena Williams to play at Wimbledon, receives singles wild card
Jun 14, 2022
London [UK], June 14 : Twenty-three Grand Slam singles champion Serena Williams will play at Wimbledon 2022.
Former World No. 1 has been out of action since suffering a hamstring injury at Wimbledon last year, where she was forced to retire midway through the first set in her opener against Aliaksandra Sasnovich. She has not competed since.
The Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) announced on Tuesday that Williams will pair with singles World No.4 Ons Jabeur in doubles at the Rothesay International in Eastbourne, a WTA 500 grass-court event.
Wimbledon also announced their first wild-card recipients on Tuesday, and seven-time Wimbledon singles champion Williams has garnered one for the singles main draw.
"SW and SW19. It's a date. 2022 See you there," Willimas wrote on Instagram with a photo of her shoes on the grass.
The 40-year-old tennis legend, who has fallen to World No. 1208 now, was initially not on the entry list for players at SW19 this year.
Serena has won seven of her Open Era record 23 major singles championships at the All England Club, most recently in 2016.
Williams, who has also won 14 Grand Slam doubles titles, will be making her first appearance on tour in nearly a year at Eastbourne.
Eastbourne will also mark Williams's first doubles event on tour since she made the 2020 Auckland final paired with good friend Caroline Wozniacki.
Eastbourne will resume Williams's sparkling professional career of over 25 years. Williams has won 73 WTA singles titles and 23 WTA doubles titles, and she has spent 319 weeks as World No.1 in singles and eight weeks as World No.1 in doubles.
Williams has particularly excelled at Wimbledon since her tournament debut in 1998, where she immediately won the mixed doubles title alongside Max Mirnyi.
The long-time former World No.1's most recent Wimbledon singles title came in 2016 when she defeated Angelique Kerber for her staggering seventh singles crown at SW19. Recently, she has been a Wimbledon singles finalist in 2018 and 2019 as well.
Williams's Wimbledon prowess also extends to women's doubles. She and sister Venus are 6-0 in Wimbledon women's doubles finals.
