Former world no 1 Serena Williams has been awarded a wild-card entry for singles at the Wimbledon this year. The All England Club made an announcement Tuesday, five other British players getting singles spots. 

Williams, who is a 23-time Grand Slam winner, has not competed anywhere since getting injured during the first set of her first-round match at the All England Club a year ago. She was not a part of the original Wimbledon draw released earlier this month. 

Also read: Nick Kyrgios-Andy Murray clash marred by alleged racist incident

But on Tuesday, the grass-court tournament organisers announced six women wildcards. Katie Boulter, Jodie Burrage, Sonay Kartal, Yuriko Miyazaki and Katie Swan, all British, are the other five. Two other women will get invitations “in due course,” the All England Club said.

Seven of the eight men’s wild-card berths were also announced, including one for three-time major champion Stan Wawrinka.

Only earlier in the day, Serena Williams had hinted at a possible comeback. In a social media post, she put a picture of herself in white shoes on what appears to be a grass court. 

“SW and SW19. It’s a date. 2022. See you there. Let’s Go,” the caption read. 

“SW” are her initials, of course, and “SW19” is the postal code for Wimbledon.

Also read: Volley of pain: Players injured and (perhaps) out of Wimbledon 2022

The 40-year-old American has won seven of her Open era-record 23 major singles championships at Wimbledon, most recently in 2016.

Williams was the runner-up there in 2018 and 2019 (the tournament was canceled in 2020 because of the coronavirus pandemic).

In 2021, Williams lost her footing on the slick grass and then her right leg buckled, leading to just the second mid-match retirement at any Grand Slam tournament of her career and first since 1998.

With the lack of activity since then, Williams — who has been ranked No. 1 in the past — is No. 1,208th in the WTA rankings this week. That is why she was not automatically placed in the Wimbledon field.