Serena Williams' potential tennis comeback likened to Lindsey Vonn's skiing return - 'GOATs have a different mindset'
Published 24/02/2026 at 17:17 GMT
Serena Williams' return to tennis appears to be happening. Williams, 44, is eligible to compete again after her six-month re-entry period in the drug testing pool expired on February 22. Former world No. 9 Andrea Petkovic expects 23-time Grand Slam winner Williams to play again and thinks she will not just be returning to compete in doubles with sister Venus.
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Andrea Petkovic has likened Serena Williams’ potential tennis comeback to Lindsey Vonn’s return to skiing, saying "these GOATs, they have a different kind of mindset".
Skiing great Vonn returned to competitive skiing in November 2024 after five years away and earlier this season became the oldest downhill World Cup winner at the age of 41.
Williams, who won 23 Grand Slam titles, stepped away from tennis after the 2022 US Open.
However, it now appears Williams is set for a sensational return after re-entering the tour's drug testing pool, which is a requirement for anyone competing in tournaments.
Williams, 44, has so far not confirmed a comeback, but former world No. 9 Petkovic thinks it is on the cards.
"I bet my money and my house on Serena coming back and playing at least one match," Petkovic said on Tennis Channel.
"And I think she has earned the right to do whatever she wants. If after one match she decides it’s not for me, she can do whatever she wants.
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"And if she decides, ‘Oh, maybe I do have a shot here to go for something bigger,’ it springs to my mind Lindsey Vonn and how she decided to, despite her ACL, a week later race in the Winter Olympics. It didn’t go well, but the decision is what counts.
"These GOATs, they have a different kind of mindset. And without them, we wouldn’t be where we are as humanity. And so I’m saying more power to her. I hope she comes back."
Vonn crashed on her downhill run at the Winter Olympics and required several surgeries, having ruptured her ACL nine days before competing.
Williams is now eligible to compete again after her six-month re-entry period in the drug testing pool expired on February 22.
Her last competitive match was a defeat to Ajla Tomljanovic in the third round of the 2022 US Open.
It has been suggested that Williams could be returning to the tour to play doubles alongside sister Venus, but Petkovic thinks there is more to it.
"I have been in the doping protocols for 16 years. Nobody signs up for a 5am warning call," she added.
"Not to pee in a cup in front of a person with you in the bathroom for doubles. I’m sorry. With all due respect to everybody who is playing doubles, nobody does that voluntarily."
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Williams’ former coach Rick Macci also expects the 23-time Grand Slam to make a full return to competition.
"She's training with lots of sparring partners - guys," Macci told L’Equipe, per Reuters.
"She's also played with Alycia Parks, a good friend of hers in South Florida. So I have no doubt about it [her comeback].
"I always thought she would come back from time to time to make appearances with Venus [her sister] in doubles. But we're not just talking about doubles here… she's going all out.
"If she didn't think she could compete with the best and win matches, she wouldn't do it. It's 100% certain she'll dive back into competition."
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