“I actually practiced with her last Monday": Alycia Parks fuels Serena Williams comeback rumors

World No. 85 Alycia Parks revealed that she recently had a training session with 23-time Grand Slam champion Serena Williams just a week ago, which has fueled speculation about a potential return. According to Parks, the former world No. 1 is “in great shape” and “she would kill on Tour” if she decided to come back.

In any case, there is no confirmation about Serena Williams’ return, who made it clear she would not return to the courts when the rumors first started, though that has not fully convinced fans, amid mixed signals on the matter.

However, Williams has been seen training and working on court since last year, although we had not previously seen her training with other professional players. Much less with a top-100 player like Alycia Parks, who has also had positive results at the start of the year, reaching the quarterfinals at the Ostrava Open and getting through qualifying at the WTA 1000 Qatar Open.

The former top-40 player has had a solid start to the year, currently sitting No. 42 in the WTA Race, while preparing to debut at the WTA Qatar Open against 15th seed Diana Shnaider. A week ago — in the U.S. — Parks acknowledged in an interview with Tennis Majors that during her preparations for the Middle East swing, she was practicing with none other than Serena Williams.

“I actually practiced with her last Monday. And I messaged her yesterday. She’s definitely a good mentor to me and she’s helped me a lot, especially in my practices,” commented the 25-year-old American. “She is in great shape. So I think she would kill it on tour.”

It all started when journalist Ben Rothenberg, last December, revealed that Serena Williams was applying for reinstatement to the ITIA’s Registered Testing Pool. With this, the 44-year-old became eligible for a potential return six months after providing a time and address to be available for random anti-doping tests.

This is the only obstacle for a player to return to the courts. Once resolved, Serena Williams would be eligible to compete in official tournaments — most likely requiring a wildcard (as she has no ranking) — though few tournaments would hesitate to grant an invitation to arguably the greatest player in history.

When Rothenberg announced the news on his platform Bounces, Serena later confirmed via social media that she would not return to the courts. Less emphatically, a few weeks later, when asked on the Today Show about a possible comeback, she said: “I’m just having fun and enjoying my life right now. I don’t know, I’m just going to see what happens.”

The 23-time Grand Slam champion is already 44 years old, but her return is making more sense as time passes. This year, we have already seen her older sister Venus Williams competing: three singles events and two doubles — partnering with Elina Svitolina in Auckland and Ekaterina Alexandrova at the Australian Open.

Although Venus has not recorded wins yet in 2026, she already did in 2025. At the DC Open last August, she defeated world No. 35 Peyton Stearns during a successful North American hardcourt swing. Queen V also appeared in several tournaments, including the US Open (singles, doubles, and mixed doubles). There, she had a notable women’s doubles campaign with Leylah Fernandez, reaching the quarterfinals before being eliminated by world No. 1 Katerina Siniakova and Taylor Townsend. Along the way, they scored three consecutive wins, eliminating the 6th seed (Kichenok/Perez) and 12th seed (Alexandrova/Zhang).

A potential Serena comeback could be aimed at competing in doubles alongside her sister Venus — perhaps a dream for the most nostalgic fans of the Williams sisters’ glory days. Considering that Serena registered in the ITIA anti-doping pool in December, she could be eligible to return to the courts by early June — meaning we might see her at Wimbledon at best, or perhaps at the US Open. Only time will tell if Serena ultimately decides to return, although all signs point to her comeback being increasingly likely.