Former doubles World No. 1 Elena Vesnina is gearing up for another comeback. The 37-year-old revealed on social media Thursday that she's planning on returning to tennis in 2024 after giving birth to her second child, daughter Anna, seven months ago.
"Hello 2024, are you ready for my comeback? Lets do it. See you guys next year on the court," Vesnina wrote alongside an Instagram reel of her hitting groundstrokes and working out in the gym.
A former Top 15 player in singles, Vesnina is one of the most accomplished doubles players in the current era. She is a four-time Grand Slam doubles champion, having won three majors with Ekaterina Makarova between 2013-17 and the 2016 Australian Open mixed doubles title with Bruno Soares.
She and Makarova -- who were also the gold medalists at the 2016 Rio Olympics -- were jointly ranked No. 1 in doubles four five weeks in July of 2018.
After winning all 19 of her career doubles titles -- as well as three in singles, including the 2017 BNP Paribas Open en route to reaching her career-high World No.13 singles ranking -- Vesnina gave birth to her first daughter, Elizaveta, in November of 2018, and took maternity leave for two years.
She came back in 2021, and picked up where she left off: She reached the Wimbledon final alongside Veronika Kudermetova, and was a mixed doubles finalist at both Roland Garros and the Tokyo Olympics alongside Aslan Karatsev. That was the last tournament she played before her second hiatus, and she announced her second pregnancy in March of this year.
In all, Vesnina has reached 16 Grand Slam doubles finals in her career to date -- 11 in women's doubles and five in mixed -- dating back to Roland Garros in 2009.
