Mats Wilander believes that Serena Williams will play deep into her 40s as she prepares for her singles comeback at Wimbledon.
The 44-year-old last played singles at a major at the 2022 US Open, before stepping away from the sport for nearly four years.
The 23-time major winner made her tennis comeback earlier this month in the doubles at Queen’s Club, where she partnered Victoria Mboko.
Despite winning their opener with the Canadian teenager, she then lost alongside Karolina Muchova in doubles in Berlin, leaving her very short on matches heading into the third Grand Slam of the year.
In addition to linking up with sister Venus Williams in the women’s doubles at Wimbledon, the veteran was handed a singles wildcard, too.
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Many are speculating about how long Serena will be back playing again, as the American inches towards her 45th birthday.
And according to seven-time major winner Wilander, the mother of two may even play at the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.
He told TNT Sports, “I think Serena Williams’ comeback, is not… I don’t think it’s completely short-term. I don’t expect her to play Wimbledon singles and then not play the US Open. I expect her to play the US Open too.
“I don’t think it matters that much, how she does. She’s obviously aiming, I believe, at the Olympics in 2028 in Los Angeles. I’m assuming that that’s something that’s really important for her.
“She’s won, obviously, a bunch of gold medals in singles and doubles, and I expect her to play the Olympics.”
Serena – who will face Australia’s Maya Joint in the singles on Tuesday – has won Wimbledon on seven occasions but her last title there came back in 2016, with two runner-up spots and two first round exits also occurring.
Wilander is confident that her serve and return game will be particularly potent on grass but her movement could get exposed on the surface.
The Swede feels Serena needs to keep the points at short as possible if she wants to go deep at Wimbledon.
He added, “I think on grass, the serve is the most important shot in the game, and we all know that Serena Williams most probably has the best women’s serve of all time.
“So that’s okay. The return of serve, she always had an unbelievably good return of serve and, on grass, the return of serve is the second most important shot.
“The only worry I see for her is if she plays somebody who can get the serve back in play, who knows how to rally maybe three or four or five shots every rally and then I worry about Serena Williams’ movement. And that… that doesn’t have anything to do with her age.
“The movement for everybody is much, much harder on the grass court. You don’t know if you’re gonna slip, you don’t know if you need to slide, you don’t know if you should take short steps or long steps until you get some experience again.
“Of course, she has all the experience in the world, but she hasn’t done it for so many years. So if the ball is in play, I worry for Serena Williams. But if she plays somebody that also has a big serve and the rallies are very short, then I don’t think I worry that much.”
