Serena Williams timeline: From going pro to her tennis return at 44
Serena Williams timeline: From going pro to her tennis return at 44
Mark Giannotto, USA TODAYMon, June 1, 2026 at 10:09 PM UTC
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Serena Williams is back in professional tennis.
The 44-year-old revealed on Monday, June 1 that she's planning to return to the court to play doubles at the 2026 HSBC Championships. The warm-up event for Wimbledon will serve as Williams' first competitive match since losing in the third round of the 2022 U.S. Open.
"Queen’s Club feels like the perfect place to begin this next chapter," Williams said in the tournament's release announcing her return. "Grass has given me some of the most meaningful moments of my career, and I’m excited to be back competing on one of the sport’s most iconic stages.”
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Williams is a 23-time Grand Slam champion, which is the most by a woman in the Open era. Her career will now span more than 30 years since her debut as a professional thanks to this comeback attempt, with accolades and achievements that place her among the greatest athletes of all-time, regardless of sport.
Here's a timeline of every major moment in Williams' tennis journey, from her first matches and an unbelievable run of dominance within the sport to this latest chapter that will unfold in England beginning later this month:
OPINION: Serena Williams, at 44, will shatter myth that women have a 'use by' date
Serena Williams timeline: Biggest moments in her tennis careerEarly years -
Oct. 28, 1995: Williams made her pro debut as a 14-year-old in a qualifying match at the Challenge Bell in Quebec City, Canada. Williams lost in straight-sets to fellow American Annie Miller (6-1, 6-1)
Oct. 27, 1997: Williams made her main draw debut at the 1997 Kremlin Cup in Moscow, Russia. She lost her first-round match to Kimberly Po in straight sets.
November 1997: Williams won her first professional matches at the 1997 Ameritech Cup in Chicago. She upset Elena Likhovtseva (No. 27 in the world at the time), and then upset Mary Pierce (No. 7) and Monica Seles (No. 4) before eventually losing to Lindsey Davenport in the tournament semifinals. Williams moved into the top 100 in the world for the first time as a result of performances.
January 1998: Williams entered her first Grand Slam at the 1998 Australian Open and faced her sister, Venus Williams, for the first time in their professional careers in the second round. Venus Williams won in straight sets.
March 1, 1998: Williams teamed with her sister to win their first WTA doubles titles together at the 1998 IGA Tennis Classic in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Venus Williams won her first WTA singles title about 30 minutes prior to the start of the doubles final, according to reports.
June 7, 1998: Williams made her first Grand Slam final in the mixed doubles competition at the 1998 French Open at Roland Garros. She was partners with Luis Lobo of Argentina and they lost in straight sets to the team of Venus Williams and Justin Gimelstob in the final.
July 5, 1998: Williams captured her first Grand Slam title by winning the mixed doubles competition at Wimbledon in 1998 playing alongside Max Mirnyi.
Sept. 11, 1998: Williams and Mirnyi teamed to win their second-straight Grand Slam title in mixed doubles at the 1998 U.S. Open in New York.
Feb. 28, 1999: Williams won her first singles title as a professional at the 1999 Open Gaz de France by beating Amelie Mauresmo
March 13, 1999: Williams won her first WTA 1000 event by beating Steffi Graf in the 1999 Evert Cup final.
March 28, 1999: Venus Williams defeated Serena Williams to win the 1999 Lipton Championships in the first all-sister women's singles final since Wimbledon in 1884.
June 6, 1999: Serena and Venus Williams team up to win their first Grand Slam doubles title together at the 1999 French Open by defeating Martina Hingis and Anna Kournikova.
Sept. 11, 1999: Serena Williams won her first Grand Slam title in women's singles by defeating Martina Hingis in the 1999 U.S. Open final after Hingis had beaten Venus Williams in the semifinals.
Sept. 28, 2000: Williams captured her first Olympic gold medal by winning the women's doubles competition at the 2000 Sydney Games playing with her sister, Venus.
Jan. 24, 2001: Serena and Venus Williams completed the career golden slam in women's doubles by winning the 2001 Australian Open.
Sept. 8, 2001: Venus Williams defeated Serena Williams in the first U.S. Open women's singles final broadcast in primetime, and the first-ever U.S. Open final involving two sisters.
Serena Williams celebrates after winning the 1999 U.S. Open.Rising up the rankings and the first 'Serena Slam' -
March 30, 2002: Serena Williams defeats world No. 3 Martina Hingis, No. 2 Venus Williams and No. 1 Jennifer Capriati en route to winning the 2002 Nasdaq-100 Open without losing a set.
June 8, 2002: Serena Williams captures her first French Open title in women's singles by beating Venus Williams in the final in straight sets.
July 7, 2002: Serena Williams knocked off her sister, the two-time defending Wimbledon champion, in straight sets again to capture her first Wimbledon title in women's singles.
July 8, 2002: Serena Williams ascended to No. 1 in the world rankings for the first time.
Sept. 7, 2002: Serena Williams beats her sister in a third-straight Grand Slam final to win her second US Open title in women's singles.
Jan. 25, 2003: Serena Williams completed the "Serena Slam" by winning her fourth Grand Slam in a row, beating her sister in the final once more. Serena Williams became the sixth woman in the Open Era to complete a career grand slam in women's singles.
June 4, 2003: Williams suffered her first loss in a Grand Slam in two years at the 2003 French Open, dropping a semifinal match to Justine Henin that featured controversy. Henin appeared to raise her arm in the middle of Williams' serve during the third set as the Roland Garros crowd booed Williams. The chair umpire didn't see Henin and Henin declined to admit she had asked Williams to stop her serve. Williams broke down in tears afterwards discussing the ruling and accused Henin of "lying and fabricating."
July 5, 2003: Williams won Wimbledon again by beating Henin in the semifinals and her sister in the women's singles final.
Injuries, controversy and return to No. 1 -
April 3, 2004: Williams won the 2004 NASDAQ-100 Open in her first tournament in eight months after undergoing knee surgery.
Sept. 8, 2004: Williams lost to Jennifer Capriati in the 2004 US Open quarterfinals and told reporters she felt "cheated" and "robbed" after several calls went against her and replays showed Williams should have won all the points. The match is credited with helping ushering in the usage of the Hawkeye replay review system currently used by most major tennis tournaments.
Jan. 29, 2005: Williams won the women's singles title at the Australian Open for the second time.
Jan. 26, 2007: Williams became just the second player in the Open era to win the Australian Open as an unseeded player. She entered the event ranked No. 81 in the world after missing most of the 2006 season due to injury.
Aug. 17, 2008: Williams won her second Olympic gold medal at the Beijing Games in women's doubles playing with her sister, Venus.
Sept. 7, 2008: Serena Williams won her third U.S. Open title and returned to No. 1 in the world for the first time in five years.
Jan. 31, 2009: Williams won her fourth Australian Open women's singles title and 10th Grand Slam singles title overall to reclaim the No. 1 ranking again.
July 4, 2009: Williams won Wimbledon for the second year in a row, defeating her sister in the final again.
Sept. 12, 2009: Williams' attempt to repeat as U.S. Open champion ended in a semifinal loss to Kim Clijsters in which Williams was penalized a point on match point after yelling expletives and threatening an official who had called a foot fault on her. She was fined and placed on a two-year probation by U.S. Open officials as a result of the incident.
Jan. 30, 2010: Williams won the Australian Open in back-to-back years for the first time, spoiling Henin's return from retirement in the final for her 12th Grand Slam singles title.
June 4, 2010: Williams teamed with her sister to win their fourth-straight Grand Slam title in women's doubles at the 2010 French Open and became just the third doubles team in tennis history to hold all four Grand Slam titles at the same time.
July 2, 2010: Williams beat Vera Zvonareva soundly to capture her fourth Wimbledon singles title and move past Billie Jean King for sixth all-time on the female Grand Slam winner list.
July 7, 2010: Williams told USA TODAY Sports she cut both her feet after stepping on glass while leaving a restaurant in Munich, Germany. Williams needed 18 stitches and later underwent surgery to repair a lacerated tendon in her right big toe. She missed the remainder of the 2010 season as a result.
March 5, 2011: Williams confirmed she had to be hospitalized in Los Angeles for a hematoma and pulmonary embolism after at least two surgeries on her injured foot.
June 14, 2011: Williams returned to action for the first time since the 2010 Wimbledon final and lost in the second round at the WTA's Eastbourne event.
Sept. 11, 2011: Williams lost the U.S. Open final to Sam Stosur in controversial fashion after she was penalized by the chair umpire for causing a hindrance when she shouted "come on" after a forehand winner. Williams later called the chair umpire a "hater" and "unattractive inside," but tournament officials deemed it to not be a major violation of her two-year probation instituted in 2009.
Making history and the second 'Serena Slam' -
July 7, 2012: Williams won the Wimbledon women's singles title for a fifth time after a surprising upset loss in the first round of the French Open a month earlier.
Aug. 4, 2012: Williams joined Steffi Graff as only the second woman to complete the Golden Slam when she won the women's singles gold medal at the 2012 London Olympics.
Sept. 9, 2012: Williams won her fourth U.S. Open singles title and became the first women's tennis player to cross $40 million in earnings.
Feb. 13, 2013: Williams returned to No. 1 in the WTA rankings for the sixth time and became the oldest tennis player to achieve that ranking at 31 years old.
June 8, 2013: Williams won her second French Open title 11 years after her first one by beating Maria Sharapova in straight sets for her 31st win in a row
Sept. 8, 2013: Williams bested Victoria Azarenka to win the U.S. Open in back-to-back years, and the fifth time overall.
Sept. 7, 2014: Williams didn't drop a set en route to winnnig her third-straight U.S. Open. She tied Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert for fourth all-time with 18 Grand Slam singles titles in the Open era.
Jan. 31, 2015: Williams beat Sharapova for the 16th-straight time to win her sixth Australian Open and move past Evert and Navratilova for second all-time with 19 Grand Slam singles titles.
June 6, 2015: Williams won her third French Open while playing through the flu and joined Margaret Court and Graff as the only female tennis players to win each Grand Slam at least three times.
July 11, 2015: Williams completed her second "Serena Slam" by winning Wimbledon for the fifth time and became the oldest Grand Slam champion of the modern era at 33 years old.
Sept. 11, 2015: Williams was upset by unseeded Roberta Vinci in the 2015 U.S. Open semifinals, ending Williams' bid to win all four Grand Slam events in the same calendar year.
July 9, 2016: Williams tied Graf for the most Grand Slam titles in the Open era (22) by winning her seventh Wimbledon title.
Sept. 5, 2016: Williams tied Graf for the most-consecutive weeks holding the No. 1 ranking in women's tennis (186), but she could not surpass the mark after suffering a loss to Karolína Plíšková in the U.S. Open semifinals.
Jan. 28, 2017: Williams defeated her sister to win the Australian Open for the seventh time and move past Graf for the most Grand Slam titles of the Open era (23).
Serena's mom era and 'evolving away' from tennis -
April 17, 2017: Williams announced that she was 20 weeks pregnant and would not play again the rest of the 2017 season. It meant she was pregnant while winning the 2017 Australian Open.
Sept. 1, 2017: Williams gave birth to her first child and later revealed she suffered a pulmonary embolism after delivery that forced her to remain in bed for six weeks.
Dec. 30, 2017: Williams played her first match since giving birth, losing in an exhibition against Jelena Ostapenko in Abu Dhabi.
Feb. 11, 2018: Williams formally returned to competitive tennis with a loss in a Fed Cup doubles match playing alongside Venus Williams.
July 14, 2018: Williams made the Wimbledon final in her fourth tournament back from pregnancy, but lost to Angelique Kerber in straight sets
Sept. 8, 2018: Williams lost to Naomi Osaka in the 2018 U.S. Open final in a match marred by several code violations given to Williams for allegedly receiving coaching in the middle of a game, smashing her racket and verbal abuse. The third violation cost Williams a game and led to boos from the crowd that grew so loud during Osaka's trophy ceremony, Williams asked fans to stop.
July 13, 2019: Williams' attempt to tie Court's all-time Grand Slam record fell short again when she lost the 2019 Wimbledon final to Simona Halep.
Sept. 7, 2019: Williams was upset by 19-year-old Canadian Bianca Andreescu in the 2019 U.S. Open women's final.
Jan. 12, 2020: Williams won her first singles title as a mother, and first title in three years, by beating Jessica Pegula in the ASB Classic final in Auckland, New Zealand.
May 12, 2021: Williams played her 1000th career match in the second round of the Italian Open, but suffered a loss to Nadia Podoroska.
June 29, 2021: Williams was forced to retire from her first-round match at Wimbledon after suffering a hamstring injury. She later revealed it was a torn hamstring and she also pulled out of the 2021 U.S. Open as a result.
June 21, 2022: Williams returned to the court for the first time in nearly a year and won a mixed doubles match playing with Ons Jabeur at the WTA's Eastbourne event.
June 29, 2022: Williams lost her first-round match at Wimbledon to Harmony Tam and told reporters afterwards she wasn't sure if it was her last Grand Slam appearance at the All-England Club.
Aug. 9, 2022: Williams announced in a first-person story for Vogue that she would be "evolving away" from tennis to focus on her family and her venture capital firm.
Sep. 2, 2022: Williams staved off five match points to win second set before losing to Ajla Tomljanovic in a 2022 U.S. Open third-round match. When asked afterwards if she might consider returning, Williams said, "I don't think so, but you never know."
Oct. 6, 2025: Williams first appeared again on the list of players in the International Tennis Integrity Agency's doping pool, a requirement for her to play in sanctioned tournaments. When her name was reported as on the list in December 2025, Williams wrote in a tweet, "Omg yall I’m NOT coming back."
June 1, 2026: Williams announced she would be returning to tennis as a wildcard to play doubles with Victoria Mboko at the 2026 Queen's Club Championships
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Serena Williams timeline: From turning pro to her 2026 tennis return
Source: “AOL Sports”
