Hey everyone …
• Here’s the latest Served podcast:
• Check back on Friday for our 2026 Wimbledon seed reports.
• Let’s address themes and headlines of the week before we get to a reader question.
Serena Williams will play singles at Wimbledon
You have to love Wimbledon. In an email titled “Further Wild Cards for The Championships 2026,” the tournament noted, “Serena Williams (USA) receives the final ladies’ singles wild card.”
This, of course, was the most understated heralding of one of the biggest sports stories of the year. At 44 years old, almost four years removed from her last match, Serena Williams is set to return to tennis’s cathedral. She will be playing doubles with Venus as well, but that is suddenly a footnote. She’s also reentering the sport as a solo act. It’s daring, in defiance of conventional wisdom and totally on-brand.
Serena approached this comeback with her customary caginess. There were denials. There were nondenials. (Not even Savannah Guthrie could get a straight answer.) There was a smart, strategic plan to test the waters in doubles and, if that succeeded, to return to singles on grass. The surface is most conducive to a comeback and best suited to her game in the best of times.
How will she perform? One risks insolvency predicting anything Serena-related. Add in how draw-dependent her success is (there’s a 32/127 chance she could pull a seed in the first round), and the folly of speculating increases. It’s easy to see her facing a fit, match-prepped player half her age (when she draws McCartney Kessler, you heard it here first) and losing 6–4, 6–3, time and biology retaining their undefeated records. It’s also easy to see her doing what she did to No. 2 seed Anett Kontaveit at the 2022 U.S. Open and outplaying a spooked opponent. It’s also not beyond comprehension that Serena clocks her 120 mph serve, moves better than she did in 2022 when—by her own admission—she was heavier, and makes a deep run, revving up the engine for the 2026 U.S. Open.
Here’s what can be predicted with virtual certitude: Wimbledon 2026 just got immeasurably more interesting.
Markéta Vondroušová received a four-year ban for declining doping test
You can read the entire decision here.
Long story short: On Dec. 3, 2025, Vondroušová was approached near her home in the Czech Republic by an anti-doping agent. She saw the agent and acknowledged them, and then declined to provide a sample, citing “a generalized anxiety disorder and acute stress reaction,” which, she argued, “impaired her cognitive capacity and executive functions.”
This clearly was going to be a problematic defense. If any player could, in effect, claim to have had a panic attack as a valid reason to fail to provide a sample, the entire anti-doping architecture would collapse, and the protocol would be rendered toothless. There had to be a penalty here.
But four years? There are enough data points now to tell us this is dramatically out of proportion. Players who have tested positive for banned substances have received a fraction of that penalty. Jannik Sinner and the 90-day ban he received last year will be cited as the first comparison. But even Simona Halep, whose case also featured irregularities in her biological passport, was given a ban that was eventually dropped to nine months. There are examples of players testing positive and furnishing the most specious of explanations and alibis (see: tainted tortellini broth), and their bans haven’t come close to four years.
Vondroušová will almost surely appeal this ban. The Court of Arbitration for Sport will almost surely reduce the penalty. Perhaps the tribunal prices this into their sanction, but four years for essentially declining a breathalyzer while the actual drunk drivers can make a plea bargain and get 5% to 10% of that sanction?
The entire weight of the system collapses if she were allowed to skate, but so too does the weight of the system collapse under this failure of logic.
It was a good week for American tennis
In addition to the return of Serena, Jessica Pegula reached the finals of Berlin, beating Aryna Sabalenka in the process. At Queens, Tommy Paul reached the final, before losing to Francisco Cerúndolo. In Halle, Taylor Fritz beat Ben Shelton (7–6 in the third) and continued his ritual beatdowns of Alex Zverev (7–5 in the third) before losing to Frances Tiafoe, who scored the biggest win of his career, returned to the top 20 and suddenly became a Wimbledon contender. Yes, there is still a guy named Sinner (and Novak Djokovic) in the draw. Yes, it’s been almost 23 years since an American male won a major, but simply as an exercise in probability, Wimbledon 2026 is shaping up as a real opportunity to reverse the curse.
One year after signing with WME, Ben Shelton left for StarWing Sports
This is one of the bigger upsets of the week. A year ago, Shelton left Team8 (with recruiting from Coco Gauff, we’re told) to sign with WME. The move seemed logical: a big agency for a big emerging American star with interest and opportunities beyond tennis. Less than a year later, he departed for a boutique agency based in Europe whose clients include Chris Evert and Stan Wawrinka. It’s an interesting, unusual move that, if nothing else, shows that Shelton isn’t afraid to pull the trigger on change.
Q&A
Good day, Mr. Wertheim.
What happened to Tennis.com? It is nothing but a scoreboard now. I cannot find any articles.
Thank you, Shonn Moore, HdG, MD
This was a sample of reader questions about changes to Tennis.com, a reliable landing spot for news and insight. The official response: “Tennis.com has been reimagined and rebuilt to deliver the fastest, most comprehensive match data across Grand Slams, ATP, WTA, ITF, UTR, and Challenger events worldwide.”
I suspect much of this is simply a function of the metrics. Can you justify paying for editorial if the traffic reports suggest most people want scores and data? I would contend it is the stories that make tennis what it is, and one hopes the talented writers, editors and photographers find other homes.
HAVE A GOOD WEEK, EVERYONE!
