Rumors swirled on Tuesday that Serena Williams planned to return to professional tennis.
And they’re baseless, either. In a document released by the International Tennis Carinity Agency a few months ago, Williams’ name was on the list of players registered in the ITIA testing pool. To qualify for official WTA tournaments and ITF tournaments, professional tennis players must be tested for drug enhancement and all other substances prohibited by the International Tennis Federation. Retired players, of course, have no reason to be on that list.
In addition, Ben Rothenberg reported that Williams has filed for reinstatement. Assuming the 44-year-old did so sometime in or before October (when his name appeared on the ITIA document), he would be eligible to return before April.
Williams, however, jumped on the bandwagon on Tuesday.
Following Williams’ post on Williams, Rothenberg made this his own Bounces NOTE:
“This report may have come out before Serena wanted or expected the news to come out, but it should have. -one tend to go back on the promise to put yourself back in the testing pool. Re-entering the WHEREAbout program – a daily tedium that requires constant updating of one’s location every hour – is not something one should ever do just for fun. “
The 24-time Grand Slam champion continued to compete in the 2022 Open.
