Serena reveals the WTA Tour players she loves to watch

In her nearly four years off the WTA Tour Driven by Mercedes-Benz, as she was tending to her family and diving into other interests, Serena Williams still kept her pulse on the tennis landscape.

Not every match and every tournament, she told reporters at Wimbledon, but certainly every Grand Slam, and she enjoyed watching certain players grow in their careers and become champions.

One of those players, she revealed during media day at the All England Club, is World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka.

"Seeing Sabalenka do so well in so many of those Grand Slams has always been really cool," she said. "I love her intensity out there."

Williams played Sabalenka once before she retired, a three-set win for the 23-time Grand Slam singles champion in the fourth round of the 2021 Australian Open.

As for players she's yet to square off against, Williams called out Coco Gauff and Mirra Andreeva as competitors that she admires greatly.

Williams has played two doubles matches since announcing her return to the WTA Tour, a win with Victoria Mboko at Queens's Club and a loss with Karolina Muchova in Berlin, and she's set to play a singles match for the first time since the 2022 US Open.

The 44-year-old admitted that she decided at the last minute to give singles a try.

"I had until Monday to decide," she said of her deadline. "I think it was like Sunday [that I decided]. I just wasn't sure up until then. Honestly, I'm still not even sure, but we'll see."

Williams, a seven-time singles champion at Wimbledon, drew a favorable first-round match against 20-year-old Australian Maya Joint, who is just 3-15 on the season. They're scheduled to play on Tuesday.

Serena is also in the doubles draw with her sister, Venus Williams. The pair has won six Wimbledon doubles titles together. They'll play Camila Osorio and Solana Sierra in the first round on Thursday.