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LONDON (AP) — Serena Williams is back on a professional tennis court.
The 44-year-old Williams was given a standing ovation as she walked onto the grass court at Queen’s Club on Tuesday for her first-round doubles match together with 19-year-old Canadian Victoria Mboko. They were playing third-seeded duo Nicole Melichar-Martinez and Erin Routliffe in Williams’ first professional match in nearly four years, after the American last week announced her return to doubles.
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She said at a news conference on Sunday that she has yet to decide whether to make a comeback in singles as well.
Williams immediately received the loudest ovation of the day at the Andy Murray Arena, even from a crowd that had earlier watched British players Emma Raducanu and Katie Boulter secure wins in the singles tournament at the HSBC Championships.
It is Williams’ first appearance at Queen’s Club, which is nestled among residential blocks near Hammersmith in west London. The club, which held its first championships in 1881, did not stage a women’s tournament for more than 50 years before the WTA tour returned to the venue in 2025.
The men’s tournament, which starts next week, has long been one of the main grass-court warmup events for Wimbledon and counts Carlos Alcaraz, Andy Murray, Rafael Nadal, Pete Sampras, Boris Becker and John McEnroe among its former winners.
Whatever the result in Tuesday’s match, Williams’ return is set to last at least one more week as she will also compete in doubles at the Berlin Open in Germany.
She has yet to say whether she aims to play at Wimbledon, which starts June 29.
Williams had not competed since bidding farewell at the 2022 U.S. Open. At the time, she said she didn’t want to use the word “retiring” and instead declared that she was “evolving” away from tennis.
Williams won 23 Grand Slam singles titles, including seven at Wimbledon, before stepping away from the game. She also added 14 Grand Slam doubles titles, including six at Wimbledon — all with her older sister Venus Williams.
