Serena Williams will play singles at Wimbledon in her tennis comeback at age 44

It's been talked about ever since Serena Williams announced nearly three weeks ago that she was returning to professional tennis after almost four years away from the sport.

Still, seeing the single-sentence announcement from The All England Club that the 23-time Grand Slam champion will play singles at Wimbledon was stunning nonetheless.

“Serena Williams (USA) receives the final ladies’ singles wild card,” read the key line in Sunday's announcement, which was issued eight days before the grass-court Grand Slam begins.

At age 44, Williams will actually play both singles and doubles at Wimbledon after already accepting a wild card for the doubles competition with older sister Venus.

“This is not a drill,” Wimbledon said on its social media accounts Sunday.

Commented the WTA Tour, “Name a more iconic return…we’ll wait.”

Wimbledon held open the eighth and final women's singles wild card spot until Williams made up her mind. As recently as earlier this week after losing a doubles match in Berlin, she appeared to be waffling over the decision.

“Oh my gosh, there are some left?” she replied when she was told there was still a wild card spot open. Wild cards are special invitations handed out by tournament organizers, which allow former champions and others access to the main draw without the necessary entry qualifications. But then she mused about her readiness for it.

“Do you think I’m ready for singles?” she asked a reporter and then turned to doubles partner Karolina Muchova to ask what she thought.

“I think I would be interested in it,” the Czech player responded.

“That’s the question of the hour, right?” Williams said. “I don’t know. I don’t know. I wonder why there’s — I don’t know.”

Well, now that Williams has made up her mind, the big remaining question is how she can physically handle singles play after so long.

Serena’s most-recent singles match was a loss to Ajla Tomljanovic in the third round of the 2022 U.S. Open. At the time, she said she didn’t want to use the word “retiring” and instead declared that she was “evolving” away from tennis. Her second daughter was born in 2023.

“Just finished a mean game of duck duck goose,” Williams said on X after the wild card announcement.

Of Williams' 23 Grand Slam titles in singles, seven have come at Wimbledon: in 2002, 2003, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2015 and 2016. She’s also won 14 Grand Slams in doubles, all with Venus, and six of them at Wimbledon.

Serena also swept the singles and doubles (with Venus) titles at the 2012 London Olympics, when the tennis competition was held on the hallowed grass of the All England Club.

At her last Wimbledon appearance in 2022, Serena was beaten in the opening round by 115th-ranked Harmony Tan in her first match since having to stop less than a set into her opening contest at the All England Club because of an injury the year before.

Serena won a doubles match with partner Victoria Mboko at Queen’s Club last week but then the pair had to withdraw after Mboko injured her knee in a singles match.

In another doubles match at the Berlin Open on Tuesday, Serena and Muchova were beaten by Giuliana Olmos and Erin Routliffe.

As of Sunday, Serena had not entered the singles draws of any grass-court tuneup tournaments before Wimbledon.

She will learn who her first-round opponent is on Friday when the singles draws for Wimbledon are held.

While she’s No. 593 in the doubles rankings courtesy of her victory last week, Serena has no singles ranking after being away for so long.

Iga Swiatek is the defending Wimbledon champion, while Aryna Sabalenka is ranked No. 1.

Because Serena has no ranking, she could potentially face Swiatek, Sabalenka or any other top-ranked player in the opening rounds.

AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis

Serena Williams of the U.S. returns the ball as she and Czech Republic's Karolina Muchova play during their round of 16 doubles match against New Zealand's Erin Routliffe and Mexico's Giuliana Olmo during the WTA 500 Berlin Open tennis tournament at Steffi Graf Stadium, in Berlin, Germany, Tuesday, June 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)

Serena Williams of the U.S. tosses the ball in the air to serve as she and Czech Republic's Karolina Muchova play during their round of 16 doubles match against New Zealand's Erin Routliffe and Mexico's Giuliana Olmo during the WTA 500 Berlin Open tennis tournament at Steffi Graf Stadium, in Berlin, Germany, Tuesday, June 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)

Serena Williams of the United States, hits a return as she and playing partner Victoria Mboko of Canada play against Nicole Melichar-Martinez of Canada and Erin Routliffe of New Zealand during their first round doubles match at the Queen's Club tennis championships in London, Tuesday, June 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Alberto Pezzali)

FILE -Serena Williams, left, and Venus Williams of the U.S hold their trophies after winning the women's doubles final against Yaroslava Shvedova of Kazahkstan and Timea Babos of Hungary on day thirteen of the Wimbledon Tennis Championships in London, July 9, 2016. (AP Photo/Tim Ireland, File)

Serena Williams of the U.S. returns the ball as she and Czech Republic's Karolina Muchova play during their round of 16 doubles match against New Zealand's Erin Routliffe and Mexico's Giuliana Olmo during the WTA 500 Berlin Open tennis tournament at Steffi Graf Stadium, in Berlin, Germany, Tuesday, June 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)

Serena Williams of the U.S. tosses the ball in the air to serve as she and Czech Republic's Karolina Muchova play during their round of 16 doubles match against New Zealand's Erin Routliffe and Mexico's Giuliana Olmo during the WTA 500 Berlin Open tennis tournament at Steffi Graf Stadium, in Berlin, Germany, Tuesday, June 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)

U.S. President Donald Trump continued to threaten Iran on Sunday even as talks began in Switzerland between his vice president and Iranian officials on next steps in the interim agreement signed last week to end the war.

The U.S. team is led by Vice President JD Vance and includes Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff. The Iranian negotiators are led by Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi. Pakistan and Qatar are mediators.

On the eve of talks, Tehran said it closed the Strait of Hormuz again over Israel’s ongoing military campaign in Lebanon against the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militant group. The interim deal is meant to stop fighting on all fronts, including Lebanon. Iran has said talks must first address that issue.

The U.S. says shipping traffic on the crucial waterway continues, and Trump has threatened to impose American tolls in the strait if a final deal with Iran isn’t reached in 60 days. Other issues include unfreezing billions of dollars in Iranian assets and addressing the heart of tensions: Iran's nuclear program.

Here is the latest:

Members of Iran’s delegation, briefing their media, said the talks Sunday to reach a deal to end the war in Iran had mainly focused on Lebanon.

Other issues, including the release of frozen Iranian assets and Iran’s oil exports, had also been discussed, the reports said.

Hamid Bovard, CEO of the National Iranian Oil Co., who is part of Iran’s delegation in Switzerland, said the issue of lifting oil-related sanctions and the associated waivers was pursued during negotiations.

Bovard was responding to a question from a correspondent from IRNA, Iran’s state-run news agency.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he believes the Iranian government will collapse as a result of the military campaign. Creating the conditions for a popular uprising was one of his original goals.

“I think we created the conditions for its future fall,” Netanyahu told the JNS International Policy Summit in Jerusalem on Sunday.

“That is what will be the real triumph, when the Iranian people take their own destiny in their hands, and they knock out this brutal regime that is terrorizing them and terrorizing the rest of the world.”

Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa says Syria has no desire to intervene militarily in Lebanon, despite Trump’s remarks suggesting Syria could help “take care of Hezbollah.”

Al-Sharaa's comments came in an interview with United Arab Emirates network Al Mashhad on Sunday. He said Trump's remarks had been “misunderstood.”

Trump “spoke about Syria’s role in finding a safe and peaceful solution, but the statement was misinterpreted as if Syria were going to invade Lebanon tomorrow morning,” al-Sharaa said.

Israel’s military says residents of the north near the border with Lebanon will be able to move around freely with no restrictions as of Monday morning. For months, residents have faced restrictions because of the threat of attack by the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militant group in southern Lebanon.

The military did not say what led to its decision Sunday, but it has noted that a fragile ceasefire is in place. Its announcement came as the U.S. and Iran meet in Switzerland on their interim deal to end the war. Iran has insisted they must address Israel’s attacks in Lebanon first.

Still, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Israeli forces will remain in southern Lebanon.

Israel’s military says it killed an Islamic Jihad militant commander who took 12-year-old Yagil Yaakov hostage during the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack on southern Israel that sparked the war in Gaza.

The military said it killed Zaki Youssef Mahmoud Abu Mustafa on Friday in a strike in southern Gaza. It accused him of trying to rebuild the Islamic Jihad militant group in violation of the ceasefire.

Nasser hospital confirmed that he was killed in a strike in Muwasi that wounded five other people, including four children.

Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency suggested that talks have “entered a difficult phase” after what it described as an “insulting” statement by Trump. It did not specify the statement. Trump made multiple provocative warnings to Iran on Sunday, including to “hit Iran very hard again.”

An official with knowledge of the talks told The Associated Press that the Iranian delegation remains engaged in the talks and has not indicated to mediators any intention to leave. The official requested anonymity due to the sensitivity of the talks.

— Victoria Eastwood in Cairo

Hezbollah leader Naim Kassem said in a televised speech that the militant group will not accept any ceasefire deal that grants Israel “freedom of action” within Lebanon or does not result in a complete withdrawal of Israeli forces from southern Lebanon.

“There are no ‘security zones,’ for Israel,” Kassem said, using Israel’s term.

He also said Hezbollah will comply with a ceasefire “if it happens,” but “we will not accept any violation.” The Iranian-backed Hezbollah is not part of the talks between Israel and Lebanon that will continue Tuesday in Washington.

Uneasy calm has settled over Lebanon, with no Israeli strikes reported overnight or Sunday after days of heavy fighting.

The U.S. ambassador to Israel is playing down recent differences between President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Mike Huckabee said in a speech in Jerusalem that despite Trump’s sometimes blunt language about the Israeli leader, the two still have a close relationship and the president remains deeply committed to Israel’s well-being.

“The one thing that I’ve always heard him say – always -- and that I’ve always watched him do, is that America has an unbreakable bond with the state of Israel,” Huckabee told the JNS International Policy Summit. “And I trust that he means what he says.”

Trump in a telephone interview with Fox News has said that Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian had “better watch his mouth.” The broadcaster also quoted Trump as saying Pezeshkian had “better shape up or we’ll take over the rest of the country.”

Not long after that, Iran's lead negotiator Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf posted on X that “We do not regard American threats as amounting to anything. They would do better to be careful about their statements.”

Pezeshkian earlier Sunday said that “what is certain is that we will never back down from the right to enrich uranium, and the other side is also forced to accept it,” according to state media.

Speaking at a memorial service for his late brother, Yonatan, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel will "remain in the security buffer zone in southern Lebanon for as long as necessary.” He was referring to an area up to 10 kilometers (six miles) from the border that Israel has occupied.

Netanyahu has made similar comments in the face of Iranian and U.S. calls for a halt to Israeli military operations in Lebanon against the Iranian-backed Hezbollah. He spoke Sunday as U.S. and Iranian officials began negotiations in Switzerland.

Netanyahu also reiterated his claim that he “will not allow Iran to arm itself with nuclear weapons."

Iranian state television says the Iranian and Qatari delegations are having discussions after about 80 minutes of four-way negotiations including the U.S. and Pakistan.

Israeli President Isaac Herzog told Fox News that a peace agreement between Israel and Lebanon cannot be reached if Iran is “trying to squeeze themselves into this conflict” via the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militant group.

Herzog's position is largely ceremonial. He said Israel and Lebanon will hold another round of talks in Washington on Tuesday. Hezbollah is not a party to the talks.

Iran wants any agreement with the U.S. to include peace on all fronts including Lebanon. It has said Lebanon will be a focus in today’s talks in Switzerland.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has expressed concern that some Iranians could openly protest again. He said in a speech reported by semiofficial news outlets that “what I fear is that we may fail to satisfy the people, and that they may come out into the streets to protest," which could affect the country's unity during negotiations with the U.S.

Iran saw nationwide protests weeks before the war began as unrest over the weak economy turned into anti-government anger. Thousands of people were killed in the crackdown that followed, the bloodiest since Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution. For a while, the U.S. and Israel mentioned regime change in Iran among their war goals.

U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright says 67 ships went through the Strait of Hormuz in the last 24 hours, similar to traffic before the war began in terms of oil and oil products.

Iran’s joint military command on Saturday said it had closed the strait over Israel’s military campaign in Lebanon against the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militant group. The U.S. disputed that announcement.

Wright also told Fox News that Iran has not yet “demined” the strait’s central shipping channel, but the U.S. has opened a separate channel to the south and has been escorting ships through it.

Wright acknowledged that some commercial shippers still have safety concerns.

Israel’s military issued a statement around the time that direct talks began. Its chief of staff, Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, was speaking from southern Lebanon. He said “the ceasefire that has been declared is fragile, and we must maintain a high level of readiness for the renewal of combat operations.”

He said the military continues to defend against the Iranian-backed Hezbollah and its efforts to rebuild.

The last time that Vance met directly with senior Iranian officials for such talks was in early April, days after a ceasefire took effect in the war. Those talks in Pakistan's capital of Islamabad ended after 21 hours without reaching an agreement. Again, Vance was meeting with lead negotiator Qalibaf.

It's now after 4 p.m. in Switzerland.

Both Iran and the White House say four-way talks have begun in Switzerland. Vance is meeting with Iranian officials.

Trump hopes to get the agreement signed last week back on track. Israel's ongoing military campaign in Lebanon against the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militant group threatens progress on implementation.

Iran says its main focus in these talks is the situation in Lebanon. Israel says it must defend itself from Hezbollah. But the U.S. side wants to get Iran locked into negotiations over its nuclear program, which has long been at the heart of tensions.

Trump has warned in a post on social media that Iran needs to stop Hezbollah from “causing trouble.”

"If they don’t, we’ll hit Iran very hard again, just like we did last week, only harder!!!” Trump wrote from Camp David, where he is spending the weekend.

The U.S. vice president spoke as officials were gathering for the start of the U.S.-Iran talks on Sunday.

“The question before us now is how much more can we accomplish together? Can we turn over a new leaf?” Vance said in brief comments ahead of the talks, dubbed the “Lake Lucerne Summit.”

“Can we change relations in the Middle East permanently, or do we go back to doing things the old way, which is not our preference, but is certainly very much something that can happen,” Vance added.

It was not clear if the Iranians were present during Vance's remarks.

The Israeli military says it killed two militants who were involved in helping transfer up to half a billion dollars to Hamas. The military says the two — Hussein Qadra and Mohammed Farra, who worked with Hamas and the militant group Palestinian Islamic Jihad — were killed in a strike last week.

It said on Sunday that the men oversaw a network of couriers and money exchange spots in both Gaza and Turkey that funneled money toward Hamas militants and infrastructure.

Both men were killed on Wednesday and buried on Thursday, according to their families. Farra’s family said his father, mother and sister were killed in an Israeli strike earlier in the war.

The conflict in Gaza is not part of the U.S-Iran talks underway in Switzerland.

Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has separately met with JD Vance and with the Iranian delegation at the Bürgenstock Resort near Lucerne in Switzerland where the high-level talks are taking place.

Islamabad says Pakistan’s army chief, Field Marshal Asim Munir, accompanied Sharif at the meetings. It did not provide further details.

Sharif has repeatedly said Munir played a key role in brokering the memorandum of understanding between the U.S. and Iran.

A video released by Sharif’s office shows him warmly embracing Qalibaf, Iran's parliament speaker, and Araghchi, Iran's foreign minister, as Munir looks on.

Rafael Grossi, chief of the U.N. nuclear watchdog — the International Atomic Energy Agency — met with Swiss Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis on the sidelines of the gathering at the picturesque mountainside resort near Lake Lucerne on Sunday morning.

The agency had monitored the 2015 nuclear deal negotiated between the U.S. and Iran under the Obama administration.

Trump in 2018 withdrew the U.S. from that agreement.

Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei says Tehran will mainly focus during the talks on Sunday on the ongoing fighting in Lebanon.

Tehran insists that the deal’s implementation start with a cessation of all fighting — including between Israel and Hezbollah.

Baghaei said the U.S. “has been unable or unwilling” to hold Israel to the ceasefire.

Iran will meet in the morning with Pakistani and Qatari mediators, and in the afternoon, there will be a four-way meeting including the U.S. negotiating team. There is currently only one day of negotiations planned, Baghaei told the state news agency.

“The implementation of any document is more important than its signing,” Baghaei also said Sunday.

Iran’s president has said that Iran will maintain its right to a nuclear program.

“What is certain is that we will never back down from the right to enrich uranium, and the other side is also forced to accept it,” Masoud Pezeshkian said on Sunday, according to state media.

As the U.S.-Iran talks were to kick off in Switzerland, a ceasefire appears to be holding in Lebanon, a lull that came after another day of heavy fighting.

Since the ceasefire, Israeli strikes on Friday and Saturday killed 97 people, including eight women and four children, Lebanese officials said. Five Israeli soldiers were also killed.

Israel says it targeted Hezbollah infrastructure on Saturday, including a tunnel network in the southern Lebanese town of Kfar Tebnit.

But by Sunday morning, residents in southern Lebanon reported a lull in Israeli strikes. There also were no reports of Hezbollah fire from the Israeli side.

Israel’s military has received instructions to uphold the ceasefire, and said it is only acting defensively, according to an Israeli military official who spoke on condition of anonymity in line with military guidelines.

—Melanie Lidman in Tel Aviv, Israel

Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and army chief Field Marshal Asim Munir are also in Switzerland for the high-level U.S.-Iran talks, the prime minister's office said without providing further details.

The technical-level talks at Bürgenstock Resort near the Swiss city of Lucerne are being held after Sharif dispatched his special envoy, Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi, to Tehran to persuade Iranian authorities to send a delegation to Switzerland. The meeting was originally scheduled for Friday but was delayed because of concerns raised by Iran.

Naqvi later informed Islamabad that Iran was willing to attend the talks. Pakistan subsequently conveyed the development to Washington.

The strait has emerged as a key focus, with Iran’s joint military command saying on Saturday that it was closed again because of the U.S. “clear breach of its commitments” by failing to end the war. The interim deal is meant to stop fighting on all fronts, including in Lebanon where Israeli forces are battling the militant Hezbollah group.

The U.S. disputed Iran’s announcement, with the U.S. Central Command saying that traffic continues to flow and that 55 merchant ships transited on Saturday with more than 17 million barrels of oil.

Ships began transiting after the interim U.S.-Iran agreement was signed last week. The U.S. lifted its blockade of Iran’s ports and now allows Tehran to sell its oil freely — terms that have left some in U.S. Congress asking whether the war was worth it.

The interim deal signed by Trump and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian gives negotiators 60 days to reach a nuclear agreement, but the time can be extended.

Delegation staff members meet in the lobby on the first day of a quadrilateral meeting between the U.S., Iran, Pakistan, and Qatar at the Buergenstock Resort Lake Lucerne, near Stansstad, Switzerland, Sunday, June 21, 2026. (Nathan Howard/Pool Photo via AP)

Minister of Foreign Affairs of Iran, Seyyed Abbas Araghchi, 3rd from right, and Speaker of the Islamic Parliament of Iran, Mohammed Bagher Ghalibaf, 2nd from right, with the Delegation of Iran at the Lake Lucerne Summit at the Buergenstock resort in Obbuergen, near Lucerne, Switzerland, Sunday, June 21, 2026. (Urs Flueeler, Pool Photo via AP)

US Vice President JD Vance prior to a quadrilateral meeting between the United States, Iran, Pakistan and Qatar at the Burgenstock luxury hotel complex overlooking Lake Lucerne, Switzerland, Sunday June 21, 2026. (Fabrice Coffrini/Keystone via AP)

From left, US Vice President JD Vance speaks next to Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Qatar's Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim al-Thani and Pakistan's Chief of Army Staff Field Marshal Asim Munir during a quadrilateral meeting between the United States, Iran, Pakistan and Qatar at the Burgenstock luxury hotel complex overlooking Lake Lucerne, Switzerland, Sunday June 21, 2026. (Fabrice Coffrini/Keystone via AP)

U.S. Vice President JD Vance, right, meets with Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, during high-level talks aimed at advancing a deal to end the Middle East conflict, at the Bürgenstock Resort in Obbuergen, near Lucerne, in Switzerland, Sunday, June 21, 2026. (Nathan Howard/Pool Photo via AP)

U.S. Vice President JD Vance waits, alongside U.S. President Donald Trump's envoys Steve Witkoff, second right, and Jared Kushner, right, to meet with Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif for high-level talks aimed at advancing a deal to end the Middle East conflict, at the Bürgenstock Resort in Obbuergen, near Lucerne, in Switzerland, Sunday, June 21, 2026. (Nathan Howard/Pool Photo via AP)

Flags of the U.S., Qatar, Iran, Pakistan, Nidwalden and Switzerland, from left, are seen at the Buergenstock resort in Obbuergen, near Lucerne, Switzerland, Sunday, June 21, 2026. (Urs Flueeler/Keystone Pool via AP)

U.S. Vice President JD Vance, gestures as he meets with Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, during high-level talks aimed at advancing a deal to end the Middle East conflict, at the Bürgenstock Resort in Obbuergen, near Lucerne, in Switzerland, Sunday, June 21, 2026. (Nathan Howard/Pool Photo via AP)

Vice President JD Vance speaks to reporters at Joint Base Andrews, Md., Saturday, June 20, 2026, en route to Switzerland. (Elizabeth Frantz/Pool Photo via AP)

Vice President JD Vance, center, and second lady Usha Vance, left, walk from Marine Two as they arrive at Joint Base Andrews, Md., Saturday, June 20, 2026, en route to Switzerland. (Elizabeth Frantz/Pool Photo via AP)

Speaker of the Islamic Parliament of Iran Mohammed Bagher Ghalibaf, center, arrives at the Buergenstock resort in Obbuergen, near Lucerne, Switzerland, early Sunday, June 21, 2026. (Urs Flueeler/Keystone, Pool via AP)

Iranian Foreign Minister Seyyed Abbas Araghchi, center, arrives at the Buergenstock resort in Obbuergen, near Lucerne, Switzerland, early Sunday, June 21, 2026. (Urs Flueeler/Keystone, Pool via AP)

Iranian Foreign Minister Seyyed Abbas Araghchi, center, and Speaker of the Islamic Parliament of Iran Mohammed Bagher Ghalibaf, left, arrive at the Buergenstock resort in Obbuergen, near Lucerne, Switzerland, early Sunday, June 21, 2026. (Urs Flueeler/Keystone, Pool via AP)