She is on the anti-doping testing list! Is Serena Williams making a comeback?

Recently, foreign media discovered that the name of former American tennis professional Serena Williams suddenly appeared on the ITIA's published tennis anti-doping testing list, which is a requirement for participating in official competitions. This sparked widespread rumors about Serena returning to professional tennis in the 2026 season.

However, Serena quickly clarified through social media, "I am not coming back; these rumors are really crazy!" She firmly stated she has no intention to return. Although reporters continued to question her about why her name was on the list, Serena did not provide any further comment.

As a tennis icon, Serena Williams, born in the United States in 1981, began her professional career in 1998. In 1999, at just 18 years old, she won her first US Open singles title. At the same time, she also achieved both singles and doubles titles, becoming the second African American woman to win the US Open singles championship in history.

Afterwards, Serena embarked on an incredible tennis journey. In the 2002 season alone, she captured three Grand Slam titles consecutively at the French Open, Wimbledon, and the US Open. With her 2003 Australian Open victory, she completed her first "Serena Slam" — holding all four Grand Slam titles simultaneously.

It’s important to note that for any professional tennis player, winning even one Grand Slam title is a great achievement. Serena, however, won a total of 23 Grand Slam singles titles: 7 Australian Opens, 3 French Opens, 7 Wimbledons, and 6 US Opens.

Beyond Grand Slam titles, Serena also finished as the WTA year-end No.1 five times. She held the world No.1 ranking for a total of 319 weeks, ranking third all-time behind Steffi Graf’s 377 weeks and Martina Navratilova’s 332 weeks. Her longest consecutive streak at No.1 was 186 weeks, tying Graf for the longest in history.

Serena has previously made comebacks. After winning the 2017 Australian Open, she announced her pregnancy in April and later gave birth to her daughter. She returned to competition at Indian Wells in early 2018 and reached the singles finals at Wimbledon and the US Open in 2018, as well as Wimbledon and the US Open in 2019. Unfortunately, she ended as runner-up in all these finals, missing out on a 24th Grand Slam title.

In 2022, Serena lost in the third round of the US Open after a grueling three-hour match with Tomljanovic, with a score of 5-7, 7-6, 1-6. After competing in her 21st US Open and 81st Grand Slam overall, she officially concluded her legendary professional tennis career. Now focused on family and personal pursuits, do you think she can still return to the court at age 43?(Source: Tennis Home, Author: Barbie)