The GOAT of women’s tennis, Serena Williams, will make her comeback to singles competition at Wimbledon next week, returning to the grass-court major for the first time since her retirement in 2022.
The 44-year-old will be among the oldest women to enter a grand slam as a singles competitor in the Open Era, joining Martina Navratilova, Kimiko Date and Venus Williams in a rare club. She’ll be following the footsteps of her sister, Venus, who has been an active participant on the WTA Tour over the last few years, with her last appearance coming at the Madrid Open in May.
While most assume Serena Williams is back for just one last hurrah, her former coach, Rick Macci, believes she is here for the foreseeable future.
Is Serena Williams Back for Good?
“I really think she’s going to play the whole year, and there’ll definitely be a GOAT sighting at the US Open in September,” Macci told Casino.
Macci, who coached the Williams Sisters between the ages of 9 and 15, is equally excited to see his pupils return as a doubles team at next week’s Wimbledon.
“When she plays doubles with Venus, that in itself is muCasist-see TV, they’ve won 14 Grand Slam doubles as a partnership,” he added.
Serena Williams Will ‘Be Competitive’
Serena, the 23-time Grand Slam champion, played doubles with Karolina Muchova (Berlin Open) and Victoria Mboko (HSBC Championships) in the lead-up to her Wimbledon comeback. Although she won only one match, Macci saw enough from her to expect a “competitive” version of herself even at 44.
“How dangerous can she be? Even though she hasn’t won a match in seven years at Wimbledon and she hasn’t played that much, I have no doubt she can be competitive,” Macci said of Williams, the former seven-time Wimbledon singles champion.
“She’s wired differently,” he continued. “Remember, when you’re talking about the greatest of all time, they’re just wired different. When you understand how competitive she is, it’s a whole different discussion. I feel she could beat anybody anytime, anywhere, especially on grass, because of two reasons.”
Williams, who has lost 34 pounds in the last year, is still moving around the court like a player in their 20s. On Wednesday, she turned heads with her agility in a practice session at the All-England Tennis Club.
Macci feels she can shock the world at Wimbledon.
“She can still hit a serve 122 miles an hour,” he said of the 44-year-old. “Her slice serve to the deuce court is money in the bank. She has firepower off the ground, with clean, kind of hard, flat ground strokes, but the wild card with Serena is that she’s a little bull; it’s like a Compton street fight when she’s out there.”
“Now, will she win Wimbledon? No, because as the matches go on, if she wins a few matches, the physical part is going to come into play, and that’s where this whole thing is a lot trickier.”
World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka is the betting favorite to win her first Wimbledon, while Elena Rybakina has the second-shortest odds to claim her second major of the year.
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