Tennis fans, rejoice! One of the sport’s all-time greats, Serena Williams, is back on the court for the HSBC Championships and the Berlin Tennis Open.
After a hiatus of over three years, Williams is back to compete. She is far removed from the prime of her tennis career, with her first major win coming in 1999.
That being said, she was still performing well before her retirement. At the start of the 2021 season, Williams was ranked No. 7 by the WTA, before falling to No. 41 by the season’s end.
Here is what to know about Williams’ age and retirement status ahead of her tennis comeback.
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How old is Serena Williams?
Williams is 44 years old. Her last match took place in 2022, when she was 40 years old.
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When did Serena Williams retire?
Williams retired after the U.S. Open in 2022. She declared that this would be her last event before retiring.
Ajla Tomljanovic beat Williams in the third round, making it her last match before her incoming return to tennis.
Why did Serena Williams retire?
Williams chose to step away from tennis in 2022 to focus on her family. At the time, Williams’ first daughter was five years old. Then, in 2023, Williams had her second child. Now nearly three years removed from the birth of her second child, Williams has had sufficient time away from the sport.
Even at the time in 2022, Williams was hesitant to use the word retirement, instead using evolution.
“I have never liked the word retirement. It doesn’t feel like a modern word to me. I’ve been thinking of this as a transition, but I want to be sensitive about how I use that word, which means something very specific and important to a community of people,” Williams told Vogue in 2022.
Serena Williams’ last match
The 2022 U.S. Open was Williams’ last event as a tennis pro. She won the event six times in the past, most recently in 2014.
In 2022, however, Williams lost to Ajla Tomljanovic in the third round of the event. After the match, Tomljanovic called Williams “the greatest of all time. Period.”
After the match concluded, Williams did an on-court interview where she said, “It’s been a fun ride, it’s been the most incredible ride and journey I’ve ever been on in my life, and I’m just so grateful to every single person that’s ever said, ‘Go Serena’ in their life.”
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Serena Williams comeback timeline
Williams has ventured into many endeavors since she stepped away from the tennis world.
Most notably, Williams had a child in August 2023, less than a year after she retired from tennis. The child is now two years old.
As a result of her pregnancy, Williams put on significant postpartum weight. She used GLP-1 medication to clear this up and lose 31 pounds before becoming a spokesperson for the brand. She now appears in their commercials and advertisements.
This is one of a few business ventures for Williams. Her primary business is Serena Ventures, a VC firm that she created in 2014. She also Wyn Beauty, a beauty line she co-created with Ulta, and a production company called Nine Two Six.
Oldest women to win pro tennis match
Martina Navratilova is the oldest woman to win a professional match, a feat that she accomplished at Wimbledon in 2004. She won her opening round match at 47 years old.
The second-oldest woman is someone who Serena Williams knows quite well… her sister Venus. She won her first round of the WTA’s DC Open in July 2025. At the time, Venus Williams was 45 years old.
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