Serena Williams in discussions about potential return at Queen's

Key developments are emerging from the global stage. Williams in discussions about potential return at Queen'sImage source, Getty ImagesImage caption, Serena Williams won 23 Grand Slam singles titles as well as 14 in women's doubles with sister VenusByRussell Fuller Tennis correspondentPublished10 minutes agoSerena Williams is in discussions about a potential return to competitive tennis at Queen's Club next month. Four years after the 23-time Grand Slam singles champion waved goodbye to the sport in New York, Williams is considering playing doubles at the WTA 500 event in London in two weeks' time. Nothing has yet been finalised, but the 44-year-old has been free to return to the sport since 22 February, having completed six months back in the drug testing pool.

The American great would need a wildcard, but there are two available for the grass court event which begins on Monday, 8 June. Wimbledon - where Williams has won seven singles and seven doubles titles - begins three weeks later. The Served podcast, hosted by former men's world number one Andy Roddick, claimed Williams would play with 19-year-old Canadian Victoria Mboko at Queen's.

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Sport has not yet been able to confirm this. Williams is one of the greatest players of all time. Her 23 Grand Slam singles titles are the most by a woman in the Open era and second-highest of all-time behind Margaret Court.

She also won 14 major women's doubles titles with sister Venus - who is still playing on the WTA Tour - and the pair won three Olympic golds in the discipline. Serena Williams can return from 22 February - but will she? Published9 FebruaryThere are two doubles wildcards available for the tournament at Queen’s, and one is reserved for a team which includes a former world number one, a Grand Slam champion of the past 10 years or a current top-30 player.

WIlliams has never liked the word retirement, preferring instead to say she was "evolving away" from tennis in 2022. She lost to Australia’s Ajla Tomljanovic in the third round of the 2022 US Open, in what the world thought would be her final match. Williams had reached the semi-finals of the Australian Open earlier that year, and won her last Grand Slam singles title in Melbourne in 2017 at the age of 35.

The Lawn Tennis Association has consistently prioritised British players when determining who should receive wildcards at domestic grass court events. All four available for the singles draw are very likely to go to British players, but the LTA are likely to feel differently about the doubles given the "exceptional circumstances" of a potential Williams return. "Never say never, and not wanting to speak of any one individual player, but you will have seen over recent years that those wildcard opportunities are afforded to British players - that is absolutely my fundamental personal belief and philosophy," LTA chief executive Scott Lloyd said at a briefing for journalists in April.

The story has become one of the most prominent items on the global agenda.