Wimbledon draw: Serena Williams to learn her first-round opponent in a comeback at age 44

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Serena Williams of the United States smiles after a training session at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, ahead of the Wimbledon Championships in London, Thursday, June 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)

Serena Williams of the United States arrives at a training session at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, ahead of the Wimbledon Championships in London, Thursday, June 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth) — Serena Williams of the United States smiles after a training session at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, ahead of the Wimbledon Championships in London, Thursday, June 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)

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10:05 PM on Thursday, June 25

The Associated Press

LONDON (AP) — Serena Williams will find out who she’s facing in the first round at Wimbledon — for her first singles match in nearly four years, and at age 44 — when the draw is held Friday.

The seven-time Wimbledon singles champion accepted a wild-card entry to the grass-court Grand Slam, where she’ll also compete in doubles with her older sister Venus, who turned 46 last week.

It's all part of a tennis comeback that started with two doubles warmup matches but kicked into high gear Sunday when All England Club announced Serena would play singles.

Because she has no ranking, the 23-time Grand Slam singles champion could potentially face a highly ranked player such as defending champion Iga Swiatek or No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka.

Williams hasn't played a singles match since a third-round loss to Ajla Tomljanovic at the 2022 U.S. Open. At the time, she said she didn’t want to use the word “retiring” and instead declared she was “evolving” away from tennis. Her second daughter was born in 2023.

Williams' most-recent appearance at Wimbledon was in 2022 when she lost in the opening round to then-115th-ranked Harmony Tan.

No. 1 Jannik Sinner, the defending singles champion, is the top-seeded men's player. Sabalenka is the women’s top seed. Wimbledon seedings follow the ATP and WTA rankings.

Novak Djokovic, a seven-time champion at the All England Club, is the No. 7 seed. Two-time champion Carlos Alcaraz, who lost to Sinner in the 2025 final, will miss this year’s tournament because of a wrist injury.

Wimbledon starts on Monday.

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