Rumors swirled on Tuesday that Serena Williams was plotting a return to professional tennis.
And they weren’t unfounded either. In a document released by the International Tennis Integrity Agency a few months ago, Williams’ name was included on the list of players registered in ITIA’s testing pool. To qualify for official WTA and ITF competitions, professional tennis players must be tested for performance-enhancing drugs and any other substances banned by the International Tennis Federation. Retired players obviously have no reason to be on that list.
Additional, Ben Rothenberg reports this that Williams has filed paperwork to be reinstated. Assuming the 44-year-old did so sometime in or before October (when her name appeared on the ITIA document), she would be eligible to return no later than April of the upcoming season.
However, Williams issued a firm denial later on Tuesday.
Following Williams’ Twitter post, Rothenberg made this addition to his Bounces part:
“This reporting may have come out before Serena wanted or expected the news to come out, but she absolutely must have some tendency to return to tennis to have put himself back in the testing pool. Reintroducing the whereabouts program – a daily tedium that requires a person’s location to be constantly updated for an hour every day – is not something anyone would ever do just for fun.”
The 24-time Grand Slam champion last participated in the US Open in 2022.
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