Mouratoglou fuels Serena Williams comeback speculation amid 2026 forecasts
The French coach’s desire to see Williams compete again adds a new chapter to the ongoing debate over whether the 44-year-old icon has truly played her final professional match.
Serena Williams, at Miami, March 2025 | © Julien Nouet / Tennis Majors
Patrick Mouratoglou, the long-time coach who guided Serena Williams through her most dominant decade, has sparked fresh speculation by expressing his desire to see the 23-time Grand Slam champion return to the WTA Tour in 2026.
The French coach, speaking in a year-end review of the 2025 season on his YouTube channel, highlighted Williams’ recent physical transformation as a potential catalyst for an improbable comeback. “We have all seen the footage of Serena,” Mouratoglou said, referring to social media posts showing the 44-year-old athlete in peak physical condition. “She looks so fit, so ready. I would love to see if she can compete at the age she has… because she’s Serena”.
Away from tennis since 2022
Williams last competed at the 2022 US Open, where she bid an emotional farewell after a three-set loss to Ajla Tomljanovic in the third round. Eschewing the word “retirement,” Williams famously told Vogue in August 2022 that she was “evolving away from tennis” to focus on her venture capital firm, Serena Ventures, and to grow her family. Since her final match in New York, she has welcomed her second daughter, Adira River, in August 2023.
Despite her departure, the door has never been fully closed. Shortly after the 2022 US Open, Williams told a San Francisco crowd, “I am not retired. The chances [of a return] are very high“. In April 2025, she reiterated this sentiment to Time Magazine, stating, “I miss it a lot, with all my heart… I miss it because I’m healthy”.
Regulatory Smoke and Fire
The latest rumors were fueled by bureaucratic movements rather than just court-side nostalgia. In late 2025, the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) confirmed that Williams had officially re-entered the International Registered Testing Pool. Under anti-doping regulations, a retired player must be available for testing for six months before being eligible to compete in sanctioned events.
ITIA spokesperson Adrian Bassett confirmed the move in early December 2025, stating, “She has notified us that she wants to be reinstated into the testing pool… I do not know if this means she is coming back, or just giving herself the option”.
Serena’s Response to the “Wildfire”
While Mouratoglou and fellow legends like Novak Djokovic – who recently challenged Williams to “come back on tour next year” – have encouraged the return, the athlete herself has moved to dampen expectations.
On December 2, 2025, Williams addressed the growing speculation with a sharp post on social media platform X: “Omg yall I’m NOT coming back. This wildfire is crazy”.
Nevertheless, analysts point to her older sister Venus, who returned to competition in July 2025 at age 45 without ever having announced a formal retirement, as a possible blueprint for a limited return, potentially in doubles. For Mouratoglou, the allure remains simple: “Nothing will ever replace competition in tennis… and Serena is Serena. Nothing is impossible for her”.
