"She's obviously aiming, I believe, at the Olympics in 2028 in Los Angeles" - Mats Wilander predicts timeframe for Serena Williams comeback

From the perspective of Mats Wilander, this Serena Williams comeback is not set to be a brief stint back on the court. He believes that the American could stick around for a good couple of years with the 2028 LA Olympics a possible target.

The 23-time Grand Slam champion is back competing at the highest level following her return at Queen's and Berlin. Playing in doubles is one thing, but soon fans will be able to watch Williams in a singles match at Wimbledon, the first time she has competed in a singles contest since the 2022 US Open.

That retirement has not been set in stone with Williams deciding to make a highly anticipated comeback into the sport. She will take on Maya Joint on Centre Court at SW19 in an occasion aet to be treasured by many.

However, this is only the start. Seven-time Grand Slam champion Wilander can see a long term plan Williams has set out which sees her competing for at least the next couple of years.

"I think Serena Williams' comeback, is not… I don't think it's completely short-term,” he told TNT Sports. I don't expect her to play Wimbledon singles and then not play the US Open. I expect her to play the US Open too.

"I don't think it matters that much, how she does. She's obviously aiming, I believe, at the Olympics in 2028 in Los Angeles. I'm assuming that that's something that's really important for her. She's won, obviously, a bunch of gold medals in singles and doubles, and I expect her to play the Olympics.”

Williams is a four-time Olympic champion. Alongside her sister, Venus, the duo won the doubles title in 2000, 2008 and 2012 while Williams also clinched the singles title in fine fashion in London. possibly more glory could be on the cards if she opts to continue that long into the future. She will be 46-years-old by the time of her home Olympic games. Time will tell if she is still around in two years competing among the best players in the world.

Wilander was very positive when judging Williams chances of making an impact at Wimbledon, singling out her mega serve which could be a hugely important factor on court.

"I think on grass, the serve is the most important shot in the game, and we all know that Serena Williams most probably has the best women's serve of all time," he said. "So that's okay. The return of serve, she always had an unbelievably good return of serve and, on grass, the return of serve is the second most important shot.

There are some concerns over her movement. ”The only worry I see for her is if she plays somebody who can get the serve back in play, who knows how to rally maybe three or four or five shots every rally and then I worry about Serena Williams' movement. And that… that doesn't have anything to do with her age.

"The movement for everybody is much, much harder on the grass court. You don't know if you're gonna slip, you don't know if you need to slide, you don't know if you should take short steps or long steps until you get some experience again.

"Of course, she has all the experience in the world, but she hasn't done it for so many years. So if the ball is in play, I worry for Serena Williams. But if she plays somebody that also has a big serve and the rallies are very short, then I don't think I worry that much.”