Serena Williams has ‘nothing to prove’ in Queen’s doubles return

Twenty-three-time grand slam singles champion Serena Williams is liberating herself of any expectations as she prepares to make her comeback at the HSBC Championships in London.

The 44-year-old has been given a wild card for the women’s doubles to play alongside 19-year-old Canadian Victoria Mboko at the Queen’s Club, marking her first competitive tennis since a farewell at the 2022 US Open.

Williams said her decision to pick up a racket again boiled down to a simple “Why not?”, and while Mboko feels her partner is “hitting great”, the American insists she is not focused on any outcomes.

“I don’t need to win,” said Williams. “I’ve won more than most people have in their whole lives, so it’s not that important to me, and it’s important that I keep reminding myself of that, because I don’t have anything to prove.

“I don’t have anything to lose, and everything here is just to gain.”

Williams never directly used the word retirement, but Monday’s comeback confirmation still came as a shock after the mother-of-two had, to use her preferred terminology at the time, made the decision to “evolve away” from tennis.

Speaking after she and Mboko trained on the Queen’s Club grass, Williams said: “This whole journey is like, I’m putting no pressure on myself.

“For me right now, it’s really just about so many elements. It’s really about my kids getting to see me play. Olympia is a little bit older, Adira is very young.

“An athlete is the best thing that you can be in the highest place, and having an opportunity to still be able to do that, possibly one last time, is kind of cool and exciting.”

The seven-time Wimbledon singles champion, who spent 319 weeks as the WTA number one at the peak of her career, and claimed 39 major titles, has