Williams last played in the 2022 U.S. Open.
WASHINGTON — Serena Williams is not planning on returning to the court anytime soon.
The 44-year-old tennis star shot down rumors about her returning to professional tennis after The Athletic reported Tuesday that she requested to re-enter the sport’s drug testing database. Williams had stepped away from the sport in 2022 after penning an essay for Vogue in which she said she was “evolving away from tennis.”
Rumors about her return quickly swirled, and Williams took to social media to set the record straight.
“Omg yall I’m NOT coming back. This wildfire is crazy-,” the 44-year-old tennis star said on X Tuesday afternoon.
The Athletic reported that the 44-year-old tennis legend requested to be re-added to the sport’s drug testing database after reaching out to the International Tennis Integrity Agency. Adrian Bassett, an ITIA spokesperson, told The Athletic on Tuesday that Williams “notified us that she wants to be reinstated into the testing pool.” According to the outlet, Williams’ name appears in the list of players on the testing database.
“All I can say is she’s back in the pool and therefore subject to whereabouts,” Bassett told The Athletic.
Having her name on the list would allow her to compete if she chooses to rejoin the tennis world. According to The Athletic, players must be in the testing pool for six months before they can compete in a tournament.
Williams last played in the 2022 U.S. Open. She announced she would step away from the sport just before her last tournament, purposely avoiding the term “retirement.”
She won 23 Grand Slam titles in singles, the most by a woman in the sport’s professional era, and another 14 in doubles with her older sister Venus. Serena Williams spent more than 300 weeks at No. 1 in the WTA rankings and collected four Olympic gold medals.