Serena Williams set to come out of retirement, to make long-awaited comeback ahead of Wimbledon

American tennis legend Serena Williams is set to make her comeback to the court nearly four years since she bid the sport an emotional goodbye. The 23-time singles Grand Slam champion, after all, is set to compete in the doubles category at the Queen's Club Championships in London later this month in the build-up to Wimbledon.

The 44-year-old, who had brought the curtain down on her illustrious career following a third-round loss to Ajla Tomljanovic at the 2022 US Open, confirmed coming out of retirement on Monday.

The former world number one posted the message, "Good news travels fast" along with a video of her on court in an all-white Nike tennis dress and with her phone buzzing rapidly in the background.

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Her imminent return has been touted since it was revealed in December she had re-entered the anti-doping programme -- a prerequisite to play on the tour again.

At the time she denied she was planning a return to competitive tennis by posting on social media: "Omg yall, I'm NOT coming back. This wildfire is crazy."

Williams granted wildcard for Queen's Club doubles

But the American has been given a wild card for the women's doubles at Queen's in London, reportedly alongside young Canadian Victoria Mboko.

"Queen's Club feels like the perfect place to begin this next chapter," said Williams, who won the Wimbledon singles title seven times.

"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."

The women's event at Queen's starts on June 8.

"Serena Williams is one of the greatest athletes the world has ever seen, and we're delighted that she will be making her return to tennis at the LTA's HSBC Championships," said WTA tournament director Laura Robson.

"Women's tennis made a historic return to the Queen's Club last year, and now we have an icon of the game stepping back on to court."

Williams said in 2022 she did not want to use the word "retiring" but instead explained she was "evolving" away from tennis.

The American's 23 Grand Slam singles titles are the most by a woman in the Open era and put her second on all the all-time list in the women's behind Australian Margaret Court's tally of 24.

With AFP inputs