Serena Williams has fuelled speculation she could return to competitive tennis following her much-publicised exit at the US Open.
The 23-time grand slam champion and arguably the greatest player of all-time hung up her racquet after losing to Australia’s Ajla Tomljanovic at Flushing Meadows earlier this year.
But on Monday (US time) she told a conference in San Francisco: “I am not retired.
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“The chances (of a return) are very high. You can come to my house. I have a court.”
Of course Williams has long-avoided using the word retirement to describe her exit from tennis given how busy she has always been off the court as well.
The 41-year-old said she was “evolving away from tennis” before the US Open and left the court in tears following an emotional tribute which came after her third-round loss.
“I still haven’t really thought about (retirement),” Williams said, “but I did wake up the other day and go on the court and (considered) for the first time in my life that I’m not playing for a competition, and it felt really weird.
“It was like the first day of the rest of my life and I’m enjoying it, but I’m still trying to find that balance.”
It would appear exceedingly unlikely Williams would ever return to the WTA circuit full-time but a wildcard appearance at a slam, in an attempt to finally match Margaret Court’s record of 24 slam titles, remains a possibility.
