By Shivani P Menon.
Serena Williams, now 44, on Tuesday confirmed that she has no plans to return to professional Tennis, restating that she has concluded her playing career, having earlier described the transition as “evolving” instead of retirement.
Just hours after it emerged she had re-entered the sport’s registered drug testing pool, Williams posted on social media: “I’m NOT coming back. This wildfire is crazy”.
Her agent did not give any immediate response when asked for a comment.
Williams has long been one of the most well-known figures in global sports – a powerful athlete on the court and a star beyond it as well. If she were to return to the professional tour, it would easily become one of the biggest stories in tennis.
Her decision to put her name back in the testing pool with the ITIA, which oversees anti-doping and anti-corruption, was first reported by Bounces.
An ITIA spokesman, Adrian Bassett, confirmed to The Associated Press on Tuesday that Serena is currently on the list and has been reinstated in the testing pool of the International Tennis Integrity Agency.
Returning-to-testing athletes must provide whereabouts information – data on where they are when they are not competing at an authorized event and windows of time when they are available to be tested. An athlete who retires while in the testing pool and then wants to return has to make themselves available for testing for six months ahead of time before being eligible to compete.
Venus, Williams’ older sister, returned to competitive play this July at age 45 after more than 1 1/2 years off the tour; she never said she was retired.