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New Delhi: Serena Williams insists she isn’t making a return to tennis despite filing paperwork necessary for return to the court.
After winning 23 Grand Slams to be second on the all-time list, the 44-year-old retired at the 2022 US Open, but speculation of her return mounted as her name re-appeared in International Tennis Integrity Agency’s latest drug testing pool list published on October 6.
“She is on the list and back in the testing pool,” ITIA spokesman Adrian Bassett wrote to Associated Press on Tuesday.
Hours after it appeared that she has re-registered, Williams wrote on social media: "I'm NOT coming back. This wildfire is crazy".
It wasn’t immediately clear why Williams’s name found its way in the list of she doesn’t intend on playing as joining it invites a visit from out-of-competition testers.
When she stepped away in 2022, Williams didn’t utter retirement but preferred to say she was "evolving away" from the sport.
Retired players must be available for out-of-competition testing for six months before they are eligible for competitive return in the professional circuit.
As her name appears on the lost in October, her return could be possible from April next year.
Williams is only behind Margaret Court and Novak Djokovic in the list of Grand Slam singles titles.
The American’s haul of seven Australian Open titles, three French Opens, seven Wimbledons and six US Opens is the most major singles titles by any woman in the Open era.
Williams' older sister, Venus, returned to competitive action in July at the advanced age of 45, nearly 18 months away from the WTA tour.
Like her younger sister, Venus too never announced her retirement and at this year’s US Open she became the oldest singles player at Flushing Meadows since 1981.
Venus has since spoken of her wish to team up with her sister for doubles, having won 14 Grand Slam titles as a pair.
“I keep saying to my team: The only thing that would make this better is if she was here. Like, we always did everything together, so of course I miss her,” Venus had said.
“But if she comes back, I'm sure she'll let y'all know.”
