Howdy, y’all and Happy Tennis Tuesday! While the tour continues the Middle East swing in Doha, which will see Australian Open champion Elena Rybakina and World No. 2 Iga Swiatek back in action, most eyes are on a story that we’re not even sure will happen.
It was revealed yesterday on the International Tennis Integrity Agency’s retired players list that 23-time Grand Slam champion Serena Williams will be reinstated into the professional circuit February 22. There have been rumors of a Serena comeback for months after Ben Rothenberg shared that the GOAT was interested in playing in the U.S. Open mixed doubles tournament last year but because she formally retired, she had to pursue reinstatement. Then, late last year, she appeared on the ITIA’s doping whereabouts list that requires athletes to list a daily one-hour block of where they’ll be in case they’re selected for testing.
Now, what does this all mean? Honestly, nobody knows but I have a feeling we’ll be hearing something soon now that this news is out. Rumors swirled that the American would be announcing the comeback during her Super Bowl commercial for the healthcare technology company Ro, which she’s an spokesperson for and husband Alexis Ohanian serves as an investor and board member. When promoting Ro two weeks ago on The Today Show, Williams was in coy mode when grilled about reentering the doping program and what that meant.
Williams’ Ro connection sparks two main questions for me. The first is the science of it all and whether or not GLP-1 medications give an unfair advantage. Currently, no regulators, including the World Anti-Doping Agency, currently ban GLP-1s in sports but the scrutiny is intensifying. In Serena’s case, she’s down 34 pounds and has lost quite a bit of muscle from her playing days. While medical experts remain skeptical about performance enhancement claims, these drugs were developed to treat obesity and related conditions, not to enhance athletic performance. One could argue muscle loss alongside fat loss could actually hinder athletic performance. Whether Williams’ “new” body can handle the evolution of the current game is atop of the list of questions I have, but Top 100 player Alycia Parks shared in Doha that they’ve recently practiced and was complimentary.
Williams last competed at the 2022 U.S. Open and is technically eligible for International Tennis Hall of Fame enshrinement next year. Playing this year could push her induction another five years from whatever point she stops playing, if she steps on court. When these rumors first started to gain some traction, I assumed that it was perhaps a way for Serena to play some doubles with sister Venus for a fun sendoff. I still think doubles will be part of this comeback and with her being eligible to return in two weeks, I wouldn’t be too shocked to see them partner up at the BNP Paribas Open and/or Miami Open next month. From there, possibly singles at Wimbledon and the U.S. Open? A sliver of me wonders if this is all part of a plan to attempt a bid to play in the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games.
While it’s no secret I would love Serena to come back since she’s the reason why I got into the sport, I do have to wonder what she has to gain from coming back. In the over-three years since she’s retired, the game has gotten even more physical and she’s now a 44-year-old mother of two. Sure, Venus has been able to test players and Vera Zvonareva just reached the doubles semifinals of the Australian Open and gained a Top 100 singles win this week at 41. However again, Williams is the GOAT who demands anything but excellence and she notoriously faltered trying to attain Grand Slam No. 24 following maternity leave. She was open about the guilt about juggling professional tennis and motherhood, so I can’t see her diving into a full tennis season but I also just can’t see her half-assing it.
Now remember, February 22 is the date she can properly step on the court in a professional tennis match, but it could be months before Williams announces anything. There’s also the chance she doesn’t come back at all, truly anything can happen. Serena has enjoyed taking on venture capital projects and being a mother, so I can’t see her doing all of the processes to get reinstated and not do anything. The key question here is what capacity is she planning to do and why.
I guess we’ll find out sooner than later?
On to links!
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This Week in Women’s Tennis
Sending my thoughts and well wishes to the family of British journalist Mark Hodgkinson, who passed away at the age of 46.
Qualifier Sara Bejlek stunned the entire field to take her first WTA title at the Mubadala Abu Dhabi Open, knocking out Ekaterina Alexandrova in the final. Fortunately, Alexandrova was able to win the doubles title with Maya Joint, downing Tereza Mihalikova and Olivia Nicholls.
Sorana Cirstea, playing in her final season, delighted the home crowd by taking the Transylvania Open with a rout over Emma Raducanu. The doubles title was captured by Kamilla Rakhimova and Sara Sorribes Tormo, who knocked out the all-Chinese duo of Wang Xinyu and Zheng Saisai.
Katie Boulter found herself in the winner’s circle again after outlasting Tamara Korpatsch to win the Ostrava Open crown. Sabrina Santamaria and Anastasia Detiuc teamed up to win the doubles title over wildcards Lucie Havlickova and Dominika Salkova.
At the WTA 125 Mumbai Open, Mananchaya Sawangkaew defeated Lilli Tagger to take home the biggest title of her career. Unfortunately, the Thai couldn’t sweep the event as she and Nicole Fossa Huergo lost to Elena Pridankina and Polina Iatcenko.
Karolina Pliskova and Zheng Qinwen, though at different stages of their careers, continued their comebacks from surgery in Doha.
Again, I love Jennifer Capriati dipping her toe back into the limelight and appreciated her sitting down while she visited the Australian Open:
Victoria Mboko, who is teaming up with Coco Gauff in doubles this week, is definitely keeping an eye on the potential Serena Williams comeback.
Though she hasn’t played a match since Wimbledon in 2021, Svetlana Kuznetsova shared she isn’t completely ruling out a comeback.
Venus Williams accepted a wildcard into the ATX Open and plans to play both singles and doubles in the Texas capital in two weeks.
While Alexandra Eala patiently reaches new heights on the WTA Tour, her impact is already deep following the inaugural WTA 125 in Manila.
Janice Tjen strives to continue humility as she soars up the rankings and guiding the Indonesian flag on tour.
Kenyan player Angella Okutoyi, who narrowly missed out on the ranking requirement for the 2024 Paris Olympic Games, launched a campaign to help her fully take on the professional tour once she graduates from Auburn this semester.
Layne Sleeth was the 2023 NCAA singles runner-up and was poised to take on the professional circuit, but after a year she’s transitioned to pickleball. The player that beat her in the final, Fangran Tian, just reached the semifinals of the WTA 125 in Mumbai with an Indian coach guiding the way.
Russian player Gyulnara Nazarova, who peaked at No. 823 in 2019 and has been inactive since January 2020, was formally given a four-year ban after being sanctioned with anti-corruption charges.
Tweet of the Week
2013 Wimbledon finalist Sabine Lisicki still plans to come back following maternity leave. However, in a tour full of supermoms coming back and winning right away, I applaud the German for showing the struggles:
Five at The IX: Doha Media Day
Q. Obviously a week and a half in between Melbourne and now. What did you focus on in that gap and did you take any time for yourself leading into the tournament?
IGA SWIATEK: Yeah, for sure. Every time I take a couple days off. It’s really important for the process. Overall, I just focused on, I just enjoy the conditions because it’s much much slower here. I’m also working a bit on my serve and my forehand, and the footwork also. You can’t really wait for the ball to come to you there.
Q. I remember when you won Wimbledon a few years ago it was a very unique situation with the ranking points and everything. Curious, now winning this slam, does the experience feel different, better, as it compares to the last one?
ELENA RYBAKINA: Of course it is different, because at Wimbledon it was, first of all, really not expected. I think I wasn’t really prepared that way also, but in the end everything turned out great for me.
Of course it was a lot of emotions, different ones. In Australia I came also to the final a couple years ago, so I kind of knew the road. Of course, every day is different, new expectations and probably approach to each match is a little bit different.
So, yeah, it was different, but at the same time I feel like it’s more of a job. I try to really prepare for each match differently. Of course, if we have time, we celebrate. But then again you know that there is still a lot of tournaments ahead. And another plus of all these early wins, of course, to be qualified, I’m more or less, but I think it’s still already a big advantage to the final eight. It’s not the same as it was last year.
Q. Craig Tiley had mentioned that the women might be asked to play best-of-five sets next Australian Open. Your thoughts on that, and whether you think you want to play best-of-five sets or you prefer best-of-three sets.
COCO GAUFF: I mean, could I play best-of-five sets? Probably, yes. Do I want to? I mean, it’s a lot of playing. I don’t know. I feel like, from a spectator’s standpoint, it would be just too much for the men and women to play best-of-five. I mean, the matches are already going long, imagine if the women were also doing best-of-five sets.
I guess my stance is whatever. Like I feel like if you’re going to best-of-five, like the whole tournament should be best-of-five. It shouldn’t be like, Oh, we’re going to start best-of-five in the quarters. I think for me that feels, I don’t want to say stupid, because that’s a big word. But I feel like the rules of the tournament should be consistent throughout the whole tournament.
I don’t know. I like the way two out of three is. I think best-of-five wouldn’t be terrible, but I don’t know. I feel indifferent towards the question, honestly.
I like the way it is right now. Two out of three feels right. I can be home at a good time. I feel like best-of-five we’re going to be out there until 5:00 a.m. like every day.
Q. Obviously a lot of success here last year, and it really kick started a strong 2025 year. Can you reflect on that title and how important it was for you to get to where you are now?
AMANDA ANISIMOVA: Yeah, it was really great for me to have won that title last year. I feel like that gave me that kind of boost of confidence that I know I’m capable of doing it, and capable of playing big matches. The schedule here is you play back-to-back matches every day, so I felt like it was a very physical week for me. And just being able to make it through and get past the finish line was really special and important for me as I developed as a player throughout the course of last year.
Yeah, I can always look back on that in any moments of doubt that I have, or just when I need a little bit of a boost of reminding myself of what I’m able to do. I feel like winning this title here is a really good memory for that.
Q. You’ve come close to a Grand Slam, reaching the final twice. What do you think you need to do to overcome that? Is there anything specific that you feel you need to work on to kind of become a Grand Slam champion in singles?
JASMINE PAOLINI: I think at the moment I have to work to play a bit better in the slams, because since Roland Garros last year I didn’t make the second week. I have to be more consistent there. I have to find a way to play better. Because, at the moment, in Australia I didn’t play bad, but I had some problems. Jovic played so good. I’m missing chances, and I have to play better to have a chance to go deep in the tournament at the moment, to go to the second week, actually.
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