(VIDEO) Serena Williams confirms highly anticipated return to tennis four years after retiring at Queen's Club Championships

The news everybody has been waiting for: Serena Williams is set to return to the tennis courts. She posted a video online as the rumour mill went into overdrive. She has not stepped on court in almost four years since retiring at the 2022 US Open, but the wait is almost over.

All of this discourse started when her name was spotted on the ITIA’s Registered Testing Pool. Retired tennis players wanting to make a return to the sport were forced to put their names on this list so they can do random anti-doping tests. This is for a period of six months before they can officially compete in a sanctioned tournament again.

This was at the end of last year with that six month period now past. The 23-time Grand Slam champion was adamant that she was not making a comeback, tweeting: “Omg yall I’m NOT coming back. This wildfire is crazy-" on X right after that discovery was made.

Since then, there has been a lot of talk around whether she would step out onto the court once more or if she was done for good. A secretive Williams watched her sister, Venus, continue to compete on the big stage after making a highly anticipated return to the sport at the DC Open last year, regularly playing singles and doubles albeit struggling for success in this moment in time.

With the grass swing set to commence, Williams has chosen this period in the calendar to make a return. One of the greatest tennis players to grace the sport, the American will grab the headlines as she walks on court. Even beforehand she is getting a lot of positive attention with her return receiving a positive reception.

On X, she posted a video of her phone going off, implying all the ongoing rumours circulating online and in the tennis world. She wandered over with a tennis racket in her hand on court as she said: "I gotta change my number." The writing on the screen said: "Guess everybody heard the news," with the post caption stating: "Good news travels fast."

Queen's Club Championships will be the tournament that Williams opts to return to. It will be the first time she competed in the tournament held in London with women not having competed there between 1975 and 2023, only making a return last year.

She will take to the court with another player by her side in the doubles. "Queen’s Club feels like the perfect place to begin this next chapter," Williams said in a statement. "Grass has given me some of the most meaningful moments of my career, and I’m excited to be back competing on one of the sport’s most iconic stages.”

Tournament director and former British tennis player Laura Robson was among the people excited to see Williams back competing. “Serena Williams is one of the greatest athletes the world has ever seen, and we’re delighted that she will be making her return to tennis at the LTA's HSBC Championships. Women’s tennis made a historic return to The Queen’s Club last year, and now we have an icon of the game stepping back on to court at this prestigious venue - it's very exciting for the tournament and the fans.”

The tournament will take place from 8-14 June and will have a whole host of talent involved, all surely overshadowed by 44-year-old Williams coming back.