Former British No.1 Has No Idea What to Expect from Serena Williams’ Wimbledon Singles Comeback: “With Her You Never Know”

With Serena Williams, one never knows what to expect. Former British No.1 Greg Rusedski, too, has no idea.

Williams kept almost the entirety of the tennis world guessing when she entered the drug testing pool of the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) last year. She and those who ‘knew’ remained silent. There were rumors one after the other that only pushed toward one conclusion: that Williams would come out of retirement. And she did, but only to play doubles.

Recently, through a Nike video, Williams announced her comeback and competed alongside Victoria Mboko in doubles at the Queen’s. Although they won their first match, Mboko’s unfortunate injury during her singles match forced them to withdraw from their second-round match. Williams next lost the first round of the Berlin Open she played alongside Karolina Muchova.

At that time, Wimbledon announced the wild cards. Williams was on the list, but only in doubles, that she is set to play alongside Venus Williams.

Wimbledon, however, still had one wild card left, and Williams, during a press conference in Berlin, was asked whether she had requested to enter the singles draw, to which she appeared clueless, asking, “Oh my God, there’s still one left? There is?” and “That’s the question of the hour, right? I don’t know, I don’t know. I don’t know why there is… I don’t know.“

Well, on Sunday evening, Wimbledon announced that Williams indeed will make her singles comeback. Reacting to the news, Rusedski, on his Off Court with Greg podcast, said:

You never write off a great champion, but forty-four years of age, it’s much more difficult. You have to win seven matches in two weeks at a Grand Slam. She doesn’t even have a warm-up tournament. Playing doubles, to be quite frank, is not a singles warm-up; it’s totally different.

Williams, a seven-time champion in singles at SW19, last won the title in 2016. She played two more finals, the last one being in 2019.

With Serena, you never know what’s gonna happen. We knew about the wild card and doubles, but from looking at the sessions I have seen from her at Wimbledon the past week, it looks singles, singles, and more singles focused. I can’t think of anything right now. But if she’s practiced for six months, she’s taking it seriously. Let’s see what happens. But one match at a time; I have no idea what to expect.

Greg Rusedski added

The Williams sisters last won a Grand Slam doubles title at the 2016 Wimbledon. They have lifted 14 Major doubles titles.

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Kim Clijsters already guessed Serena Williams intends to play singles at Wimbledon

Andrea Petkovic, during an episode of the Becker Petkovic podcast, was just not ready to believe that Serena Williams was not thinking of playing singles after her comeback. Fellow retired player, Kim Clijsters, too shared similar opinions.

Like Greg Rusedski, when Clijsters saw Williams’ practice sessions, it also gave her the idea that the 23-time Grand Slam singles champion wants to return to singles. Clijsters said on her Love All podcast:

It looks like she’s trying some singles practices out there or at least trying out the movement more to the sidelines, which is great to see. It’s fun, and I’m excited to see how far she can push this second career, or third career maybe, that she’s having. 

The last time Williams clinched a Major title was at the 2017 Australian Open (she was eight weeks pregnant with her daughter Olympia at that time). She defeated Venus Williams in the final. The last time she reached a Major final was at the 2019 US Open, losing to Bianca Andreescu.

Also read: Andy Murray Reveals If Serena Williams’ Comeback Tempted Him to Make Retirement U-Turn