Serena Williams drops cryptic hint she will unretire from tennis after encounter

Tennis fans react to Carlos Alcaraz’s Wimbledon win

Serena Williams has whetted the appetite of her fans by dropping a hint on social media that suggested she might come out of retirement. The 23-time grand slam champion hung up her racket after last year’s US Open to concentrate on raising her family and was therefore absent from Wimbledon this month.

With seven Wimbledon women’s singles titles to her name, the 41-year-old has achieved everything there is to achieve in the sport, but perhaps missing out on the grasscourt spectacle is making her reconsider her actions.

Taking to Twitter on Friday Williams wrote: “I was at a book store the other day and someone came up to me and said I retired too early…”

Williams won 73 titles across her career, finishing with a record in matches that read 858 wins and 156 losses. Her elder sister, Venus Williams, has not yet thrown the towel in and was at Wimbledon this year after being granted a wildcard place.

But the 43-year-old was knocked out in the first round by fellow wildcard entry Elina Svitolina in straight sets, with the Ukrainian going on to make it all the way to the semi-finals.

Venus Williams is now ranked outside the top 500 and any potential return to Serena Williams would involve climbing her way back up the rankings.

A return to tennis would not be a complete surprise, given the nature of Williams’ retirement confirmation in an interview with Vogue magazine last year.

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The all-time great said: “There is no happiness in this topic for me. I know it’s not the usual thing to say, but I feel a great deal of pain. It’s the hardest thing that I could ever imagine. I hate it. I hate that I have to be at this crossroads. I keep saying to myself, I wish it could be easy for me, but it’s not. I’m torn: I don’t want it to be over, but at the same time I’m ready for what’s next.”

Williams’ cryptic tweet during Wimbledon is not the first time she has teased a comeback but it remains to be seen whether a year away from the sport has left her feeling unfulfilled professionally.

Her success at Wimbledon was not limited to the women’s singles. Alongside sister Venus she was crowned doubles champion six times and also won the mixed doubles title once in 1998 with Belarus male player Max Mirnyi.

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