'Why not?': Serena Williams on her return to professional tennis

LONDON -- The question hanging over Serena Williams' return to tennis is a simple one: Why?

Why would the 23-time Grand Slam champion, whose legacy has long since been secured and who has repeatedly said she has "nothing to prove," return to the demands of professional tennis at age 44?

Within her first two sentences, Williams answered the question with one of her own.

"Why not?" she asked. "In December I definitely was not. And then I was just talking to a few people and just, you know, chatting about different possibilities and just having fun. You know, something a little bit different. And so I just kept talking and talking, and then I was like, well why not."

One motivation does emerge, though. Like Novak Djokovic, who said in 2023 that he was driven by the dream of having his children watch him win Wimbledon, Williams wants her daughters -- 8-year-old Olympia and 2-year-old Adira -- to see firsthand what is possible through hard work and perseverance.

"Olympia is a little bit older," Williams said. "Adira is very young but it's still moments like that. It's also that an athlete is the best thing that you can be in the highest place. Having an opportunity to still be able to possibly do that one last time is kind of cool and exciting."

To that end, Williams has hand-picked one of the brightest young talents on the WTA Tour Driven by Mercedes-Benz as her doubles partner this week. Victoria Mboko, the 19-year-old World No. 9 and the No. 3 seed at Queen's this week, received the surprise message while competing in Strasbourg three weeks ago.

"How could I decline that?" Mboko asked in an interview with CBC Sports last week. The pair will face No. 3 seeds Nicole Melichar-Martinez and Erin Routliffe in the first round.

It's a surreal experience for Mboko, who remembers first watching Williams at the age of six as she carved her way to the 2012 US Open title. Being courtside for Serena's appearances in Toronto would become a regular feature of Mboko's childhood as she grew into one of the sport's best prospects herself, and Serena's habit of winning "like, every tournament she played" made her an "easy idol," in Mboko's words.

Reconciling Serena's larger-than-life superstar image with the real-life woman she's been practicing with this week was surprisingly easy.

"Seeing someone on TV versus actually talking to them in person and having conversations, it's very different," Mboko said in her press conference. "I think she's really nice, and she's very personable. Like, very relatable. And I think she's really funny. So I found a lot of comfort with her."

Mboko's memories of Williams stretch back 14 years. Williams' memories of Mboko date back less than a year, but they made an impression just the same.

Like many tennis fans, Williams first took notice last August when Mboko, then a wild card ranked No. 85, stormed to the title in Montreal with victories over Coco Gauff, Elena Rybakina and Naomi Osaka.

It wasn't just Mboko's tennis that caught Williams' eye.

"I was quite impressed with her game," Serena said. "I was impressed with her attitude. What I liked the most about her was that the next time she played, she still kept winning. I was like, 'OK, I love that.' It reminded me a lot of myself.

"Sometimes you win one, and then you have a little bit of a low. Which is normal, and that's OK as well! But I loved how she had this drive."

For her part, Mboko views this week's partnership as one of the most valuable learning experiences of her career. She said she feels no more nervous than she would before any other match, in large part because Williams has quickly put her at ease.

Mboko will not partner Williams in Berlin next week, where the 23-time Grand Slam champion has also accepted a wild card. As for whether they might play together again, Mboko laughed: "She's the one who decides."

"I feel like while practicing with her, she probably wouldn't put that kind of pressure on me to play the best tennis or whatnot," Mboko said. 

"I feel like learning from her in this kind of aspect is really great for me. We'll be sharing the tennis court in a competitive environment, so I feel like I can kind of get into the way she thinks on the court and how she plays. So I feel like there's a lot I can learn."

Williams herself was quick to downplay certain expectations. Is her comeback in doubles preparation for a return to the singles court?

"I can't say yes, I can't say no," she said. "Right now, it's no. I feel like I probably need to train a little bit more if I want to play singles, and we'll see if I get there. And if not, that's not my journey right now."

Her form? She's optimistic, but cautious.

"I've hit with Vicky twice, and today I felt a lot better off the ground," she said. "I felt a lot better everywhere. It's like riding a bike ... up a hill."

Williams might still feel rusty, but that's not what her fellow players see.

"She's hitting great," Mboko said. "I mean, I think she has such clean ball striking. She could probably take years off, and when she steps on the court, she could probably find that rhythm again and find her timing. That's really a God-given gift she has. I personally think she's ready to go. I mean, I'm hitting with her and she's hitting pretty big. And she's really fit."

Amanda Anisimova, last year's runner-up and the No. 2 seed this year, warmed up on the adjacent court to Serena on Sunday.

"She honestly looks like she's playing incredibly," Anisimova said. "I don't think any of us are surprised by that, but I'm really excited to see her and watch her play."

Perhaps the most surprising comment Williams made during her press conference was a simple one: "I don't need to win."

For much of her career, that mindset would have been difficult to imagine from one of the sport's fiercest competitors. Even now, Williams acknowledged that embracing the idea remains a work in progress.

"I've won more than most people have in their whole lives," she said. "So for me, that is not important to me, and it's important that I keep reminding myself of that  -- because I don't have anything to prove. I don't have anything to lose. Everything here is just a game."