Serena Williams returns to play her first singles match in four years at Wimbledon, and does so without a ranking.
The 23-time grand slam champion and former world No 1 played her last singles match at the 2022 US Open, the tournament where she “evolved” away from the sport before giving birth to her second daughter the following year.
Williams, 44, accepted a singles wildcard into Wimbledon, having already announced that she should be playing doubles with her sister Venus Williams. Serena played two doubles matches in warm-up events at Queen’s and Berlin.
Williams signalled her intention to return to tennis when she entered the anti-doping testing pool last August. But she has not played a singles match since announcing her comeback to the sport earlier this month.
The tennis rankings are produced by compiling results at tour events over the past 52 weeks. Players who are sidelined for a significant period of time, because due to injury, illness or maternity leave, can apply to ‘protect’ their ranking.
Williams, though, returns to tennis without a protected ranking. Until she re-entered the anti-doping testing pool last year, Williams was classified as retired.
Wimbledon awards 10 ranking points for entering the first round. Reaching the second round results in 50 ranking points, increasing incrementally until the finals where the men’s and women’s singles champions earn 2,000 points for winning the title.
So, if Williams beats Australia’s Maya Joint, the world No 87, in her first-round match on Tuesday, the American will begin her climb up the rankings. With 50 points, Williams would approximately return as the world No 733 on Monday.
For context, women’s No 1 Aryna Sabalenka started this week on 9,090 points. The world No 100 Ella Seidel began the week on 797 points.
