Editor’s note: This explainer has been updated June 16, 2026, to reflect news of Serena Williams playing at Wimbledon with Venus Williams as a wild card.Serena Williams, considered by many the greatest women’s tennis player of all time, will reunite with her sister Venus at Wimbledon as part of her return to tennis.The sisters will compete in the 2026 edition as a wild card entry, the tournament announced June 16. They have won six Wimbledon doubles titles together, and 12 singles titles between them — Serena seven and Venus five.Serena, 44, returned to tennis June 9, with a women’s doubles match at Queen’s, the prestigious grass-court tournament played ahead of Wimbledon.Williams and Victoria Mboko, the rising 19-year-old Canadian, defeated No. 3 seeds Erin Routliffe of New Zealand and Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the U.S. 7-6(2), 6-2 to reach the quarterfinals.But after Mboko injured her left knee, which will mean she misses Wimbledon, Williams switched partner for her next tournament, be the Berlin Open in Germany. That is also grass-court event, in which she will partner Karolína Muchová of the Czech Republic, ahead of reuniting with Venus at Wimbledon, which begins June 29.But which other tournaments could Williams play in? How long will her partnership with Venus, the seven-time Grand Slam singles champion with whom she won 14 major doubles titles and three Olympic golds, last? And what has she had to do to make a tennis return possible?What is Serena Williams’ next match in her comeback?Event: Berlin Tennis OpenLevel: WTA 500, two rungs below a Grand Slam.Partner: Karolína Muchová, the Czech world No. 10 in singles.Opponents: Erin Routliffe (New Zealand) / Giuliana Olmos (Mexico)Time: Tuesday June 19, not before 5:30 p.m. CEST / 11:30 a.m. ET / 8:30 a.m. PTHow to watch: Tennis Channel (U.S.); Sky Sports Tennis (U.K.)What happened in Serena Williams’ first match back?Williams and Mboko were solid, and at times spectacular, during a 7-6(2), 6-2 win over Routliffe and Melichar-Martinez, who seemed a little over-awed by the situation in front of them.Williams and Mboko did not play their quarterfinal at Queen’s, after Mboko injured her left knee in a singles match and had to withdraw.Why is she making her tennis comeback now?“Grass has given me some of the most meaningful moments of my career, and I’m excited to be back competing on one of the sport’s most iconic stages,” Williams said in a statement announcing her appearance at Queen’s.Grass is the shortest season in tennis, running only from the start of June to the middle of July, but it is also the part of the calendar with which Williams became synonymous. She won Wimbledon, the third Grand Slam of the year, seven times in singles, and was a master of the slick, low-bouncing lawns of the All England Tennis Club.After she and Mboko defeated Routliffe and Melichar-Martinez, Williams said in a news conference that Wimbledon was giving her time to decide regarding accepting a doubles wild card, before her partnership with Venus was announced June 16.The return to tennis ends a gradual shift in Williams from a definitive “no,” to non-committal, to returning to the sport.When Williams’ name was seen in the tennis anti-doping pool last December, Williams posted on X: “Omg yall I’m NOT coming back. This wildfire is crazy.”But during an interview on “Today” in January, Williams was offered the chance to put the possibility of her return to bed. Instead, she laughed and responded: “If I want to put it to bed … Listen, I want to go to bed — it’s early.”On both occasions, representatives for Williams did not respond to a request for comment. Then, Feb. 19, Williams posted a cryptic TikTok in which she practiced serves alone on a tennis court for, she said, the first time since 2023.