Serena Williams returns to the Hologic WTA Tour action in an important way this grassy season.
The Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) announced Tuesday that Williams will be paired with Ons Jabeur in doubles at the Rothesay International in Eastbourne, a WTA 500 turf court event. June.
Wimbledon also announced on Tuesday that Williams has received a wildcard for the grassroots Grand Slam individual main draw. Williams is a seven-time Wimbledon individual champion. The Wimbledon main draw will begin on Monday, June 27th.
Williams, who holds an Open Era record of 23 individual Grand Slam titles and has also won 14 Grand Slam doubles titles, will make his first appearance on tour in almost a year in Eastbourne.
Eastbourne will also mark Williams’ first doubles event on the tour since reaching the Auckland Finals in 2020 alongside good friend Caroline Wozniacki.
In her last touring match, a “heartbroken” Williams was forced to retire with a leg injury in her first match of the first round of Wimbledon 2021 against Aliaksandra Sasnovich.
But now Eastbourne will resume Williams’ brilliant career of more than 25 years. Williams has won 73 WTA singles titles and 23 WTA doubles titles, and has spent 319 weeks as world number one in singles and eight weeks as world number one in doubles.
“Still on the moon with the news,” said his close partner Jabeur after his first-round victory in Berlin. “Hopefully we make a great team. I can’t wait to play with her, a legend. I’ve always loved Serena, her way of playing, her way of being on and off the court.”
Williams has stood out especially at Wimbledon since his debut in the tournament in 1998, where he immediately won the mixed doubles title alongside Max Mirnyi.
The most recent World No. 1 Wimbledon title came in 2016 when she defeated Angelique Kerber for her stunning seventh singles crown at SW19. Recently, she has also been a Wimbledon singles finalist in 2018 and 2019.
Williams’ skill at Wimbledon also extends to women’s doubles. She and her sister Venus are 6-0 in the Wimbledon women’s doubles final.