Serena Is Single Again — At Wimbledon Grand Slam As Wild Card Entry
Sunday, June 21, 2026 at 03:52PM By Barry Janoff
June 21, 2026: No player has ever won the Wimbledon Championships ladies’ singles title as a wild card.
Serena Williams is giving it.a shot.
Williams will compete in the ladies’ singles at this year’s Championships after entering the main draw as the final wild card. Serena and Venus Williams already are entered as a wild card doubles team.
“This is not a drill,” Wimbledon organizers posted to social media. “Serena Williams will compete in the 2026 ladies singles at Wimbledon as a wild card.”
The Championships are scheduled for June 28-July 12 (ESPN).
Serena, a 23-time Grand Slam champion, last played a competitive singles match at the U.S. Open in 2022,
Seven of Serena Williams’ 23 Grand Slam singles titles have come at Wimbledon: (2003-04, 2009-10, 2012, 2015-16). She reached the final four other times.
Six of her 14 Grand Slam Doubles titles — all alongside Venus Williams — have come at Wimbledon (2000, 2002, 2008-09, 2012, 2016).
Serena William also won the Grand Slam Mixed Doubles title in Wimbledon in 1998 (alongside Max Mirnyi).
Serena William played in the HSBC Championships earlier in the month, winning her first match before having to retire from the event after her doubles partner, Victoria Mboko, suffered a left knee injury in a singes match that will also keep her out of Wimbledon.
Serena and doubles partner Karolína Muchová were defeated in their opening march in the Berlin Open the following week.
Asked about playing singles at Wimbledon during her post- Berlin Open media conference, Williams said, “You think I'm ready for singles? I need to go to work."
Calling it the “biggest annual increase in the tournament's history,” organizers of the Wimbledon Tennis Grand Slam in London said participants this year would be vying for total prize money of $85.8 million, a 20% increase over 2025.
The ladies’ and gentlemen’s singles champions will each earn $4.8 million.
The ladies’, gentlemen’s and mixed doubles events have each received a 10% increase to $1.04 million.
Wimbledon ’26 Prize Money Tourney Record $85.8M, $4.8M For Singles Champs
Serena Williams, Venus Williams Will Be Seeing Double(s) At Wimbledon Grand Slam
Back to Home Page