Fans Have Mixed Reactions As Serena Williams Makes Return To Wimbledon After 1-year Hiatus

Serena Williams is making a comeback to the courts!

The tennis star will be playing at this year's Wimbledon, which gives her a chance to grab that elusive 24th Grand Slam title.

The news of her return has come as a shock to the tennis player's fans and they were quick to air their opposing opinions.

Fans will recall that Williams has not participated in any competition anywhere following her injury during her first-round match against Aliaksandra Sasnovich one year ago. 

The match, which was at the All England Club, saw the mother-of-one leaving the court in tears and taking an extended break to tend to her injured hamstring. 

Fans assumed her hiatus would last longer after Wimbledon removed her name from its women's singles entry list released this month. 

That was until it was disclosed that the tennis veteran would be live at the upcoming third Major of the 2022 season. The tournament organizers and Williams made the big announcement on their respective social media pages.

While the 40-year-old captioned an Instagram picture of a pair of Nike sneakers and ankle wraps with, "SW and SW19. It's a date. 2022 See you there," Wimbledon went the Twitter route by stating:

"Our 7-time champion @serenawilliams will return to Wimbledon as a wild card this summer for her 21st appearance."

The tweet was accompanied by a gorgeous image of Williams in her player's outfit and the years she previously won the title.

Within hours of the world's oldest tennis tournament dropping that tweet, hundreds of fans went under it to drop their two cents.

An excited Tami Erwin tweeted that she was "looking forward to watching this incredible competitor return to Wimbledon."

Another happy fan noted that Williams "is exciting...polarizing....and will bring non-tennis people to the game."

A third supporter hoped the four-time Laureus Sportswoman of the Year award winner would receive the attention she wanted as she was an "excellent" player in her day.

Meanwhile, a fourth person wrote that she hoped the 14time major women's doubles winner could hold her own against the new-day players in the competition.

Someone echoed that no fan of Williams wanted to see her lose the game in less than 60 minutes; thus, they hoped she had spent more than enough time training. 

Unlike the supporters and naysayers, Paul Prigby would love for her to play doubles with her older sister, Venus – with a mix of fellow tennis stars Roger Federer or one of the Andys.

The championship is scheduled between June 27 and July 10, marking the competition's 135th edition.

Williams is focused on living her best life off the court as The Blast shared that she dropped a transition video that reminded fans of her adept skills at running the tennis court and the fashion game.

The Instagram reel started with the world's highest-paid female athlete in 2016 rocking a lacy gown with pink stilettos before switching to her in a tennis outfit giving energetic swings.

The switch occurred when she tossed the racket in her hand. Fans reacted quickly to the post as they expressed their anticipation to see her on the court again while also mentioning how much they missed seeing her play.

Williams was cheered even more when she landed the record for the highest-priced trading card belonging to a female athlete. 

The Blast reported in May that the Executive Chairman and Founder of the Goldin Auctions, Ken Goldin, confirmed the exciting news with a picture of the record-breaking trading card.

The multimillion-dollar business owner said it was Williams' 2003 NETPRO signed patch rookie card that sold for $266,400 at his auction house.

The amount shocked Twitter users, who took over Goldin's replies with conspiracy theories that only the tennis star's husband, Alexis Ohanian, would buy her cards. 

However, the Reddit co-founder dismissed the theories by claiming that Ohanian had several of his wife's memorabilia, but they did not include her 2003 NETPRO signed patch rookie card.

Even though the former No.1 titleholder was not a rookie in 2003 following her professional debut in 1995, the NetPro pack, which included her trading card, was the first tennis set the public had access to for almost ten years.