LONDON, ENGLAND – JULY 09: Serena Williams of The United States celebrates during The Ladies Singles Final against Angelique Kerber of Germany on day twelve of the Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Championships at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club on July 9, 2016 in London, England. (Photo by Clive Brunskill/Getty Images)
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When the Wimbledon draws are announced on Friday, all eyes will be on Serena Williams.
The 23-time Grand Slam champion will be the most anticipated X factor in the women’s draw as she makes her return to The All-England Club as a 44-year-old wildcard.
“I’m looking forward to watching her, to the draw coming out,” ESPN’s Mary Joe Fernandez said Monday on a Zoom call with reporters. “No one’s going to want to face her. Let’s see how it goes.”
The GOAT of women’s tennis was already slated to play doubles with her older sister Venus at Wimbledon before being granted a singles wildcard on Sunday.
Williams last played competitive singles at the 2022 U.S. Open, when she lost to Ajla Tomljanović in the third round, and said she was “evolving” away from tennis.
When she takes the court at Wimbledon, which runs June 29-July 12, it will have been over 1,400 days since she last competed in a singles match at The All-England Club.
“It’s pretty bold, I have to say,” Fernandez said. “I always had an inkling that she would. I didn’t see her just coming back to play doubles. I think to me it’s a sign of confidence that she feels like she’s ready.
“I’m excited. I’m excited to see how she’s playing, how she’s moving, how the serve is firing. I saw a little bit of the doubles, her first round. It looked like she was getting pretty good miles per hour on the serve.”
She added: “I remember when Martina played at Wimbledon, I think she was 47 [when she won a match in 2004]. I think she played before. Still it’s a remarkable testimony to her that she has that confidence that she can do it.
With a win Williams would become the fourth-oldest woman to win a main-draw match in the Open Era. Martina Navratilova was the oldest (47) at Wimbledon in 2004.
Williams has won Wimbledon seven times, most recently in 2016, and also lost in the final in 2018 and ’19 as she was bidding for a record-tying 24th major title.
“I would call this Serena being Serena,” ESPN’s Patrick McEnroe said. “It’s very Serena like to do something audacious like this.
“I didn’t think for one minute she was coming back to play doubles. It should be pretty cool, pretty exciting. Hopefully she’ll be able to be competitive right off the bat.”