Glad you liked this, Ben. I was worried you'd think I was being sarcastic;)
I am trying to figure out Serena's "strategy" here. That is a pretty unequivocal denial of a comeback. But you would not sign up to being woken up at all hours of the day to give a blood test if you did not plan to play something.
If she wants to come back because she misses competition, that’s fine but if she expects to come back and win number 24, she will be in for a rude awakening. She had several chances to do that when she was younger and couldn’t do that. She’s now several years older playing against players who are younger, faster and better.
Serena Williams could still be a force in doubles, and would be awarded wild cards wherever she wanted to compete. I wonder if the Los Angeles Olympics in 2028 is a motivation?
I was thinking the same thing. Venus had a nice doubles run with Fernandez, so maybe Serena sees an opportunity to compete into the later rounds of majors. Martina was still a very competitive doubles player into her late 40s.
Players naturally lapse out of the pool when their rankings drop well outside of the top 100...I guess whatever Venus did in 2025 wasn't enough for them to feel the need to reinclude her in the program.
World's biggest eyeroll from me in response to this. Hey tennis superstars on both the men's and women's sides: go away for a while and let the younger names shine.
Terrific journalism, Ben. Well done!
Glad you liked this, Ben. I was worried you'd think I was being sarcastic;)
I am trying to figure out Serena's "strategy" here. That is a pretty unequivocal denial of a comeback. But you would not sign up to being woken up at all hours of the day to give a blood test if you did not plan to play something.
Puzzling!
If she wants to come back because she misses competition, that’s fine but if she expects to come back and win number 24, she will be in for a rude awakening. She had several chances to do that when she was younger and couldn’t do that. She’s now several years older playing against players who are younger, faster and better.
Would be great for the sport
How?
Serena Williams could still be a force in doubles, and would be awarded wild cards wherever she wanted to compete. I wonder if the Los Angeles Olympics in 2028 is a motivation?
I was thinking the same thing. Venus had a nice doubles run with Fernandez, so maybe Serena sees an opportunity to compete into the later rounds of majors. Martina was still a very competitive doubles player into her late 40s.
How come Venus is not listed in the testing pool?
Players naturally lapse out of the pool when their rankings drop well outside of the top 100...I guess whatever Venus did in 2025 wasn't enough for them to feel the need to reinclude her in the program.
World's biggest eyeroll from me in response to this. Hey tennis superstars on both the men's and women's sides: go away for a while and let the younger names shine.