"She wants to figure out if there’s still a way to win that 24th Grand Slam, and grass is her best opportunity" - Pam Shriver on Serena Williams ahead of Wimbledon 2022

Serena Williams has been on the hunt for her 24th Grand Slam title since 2017, falling one win short of it four times in the last five years. The 40-year-old has been sidelined since last year's Wimbledon Championships, where she injured her leg after slipping on the grass during her first-round match against Aliaksandra Sasnovich and was forced to retire.

While the American's name was missing from Wimbledon's initial entry list released earlier in June, she surprised everyone by announcing her wildcard entry into the main draw at SW19.

Speaking to PICKSWISE, 21-time doubles Grand Slam champion Pam Shriver said she was caught off guard by the news of Serena Williams’ return to action.

“When I woke up and found out that she [Serena Williams] was competing at Wimbledon, I thought ‘great!’- I didn’t think it would happen. There were no signs of it on social media, and it caught me off guard,” Pam Shriver said.

The 59-year-old stated that her compatriot will be gunning for the elusive 24th Major title, and the lack of ranking points will not bother her one bit.

“The ranking points don’t matter, she wants to figure out if there’s still a way to win that 24th Grand Slam, and grass is her best opportunity,” Shriver said.

“If the arm is firing at 2017 levels, and she’s tough to break on serve - it’s the best serve in the history of women’s tennis. She could push into the second week granted a decent draw, but that could prove the key she could have to face Swiatek or any of the other top players. There won’t be any draw protection for her, but I think that’s probably the least of her worries,” she added.

Serena Williams also got a wildcard entry to compete at the Rothesay International in Eastbourne, where she teamed up with Tunisian World No. 3 Ons Jabeur in the women's doubles event. The pair beat Sara Sorribes Tormo and Marie Bouzkova 2-6, 6-3, 13-11 in the opening round, following it up with a 6-2, 6-4 victory over Shuko Aoyama and Chan Hao-ching in the quarterfinals. Unfortunately, they had to withdraw ahead of the semifinals after Jabeur injured her knee.

While former World No. 3 Shriver was happy to see Williams back in action, she is not reading too much into her performances at Eastbourne.

“It’s interesting that she’s playing doubles at Eastbourne. I don’t think that we’ll learn too much because we won’t see her full court movement, but her serve still looks beautiful. In doubles, you don’t always serve your hardest, it’s about getting first serves in and adding more spin. She looks good so far, but she’s had a full year out at the age of 40,” Shriver said.

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“It’s definitely something that will be mentioned” - Pam Shriver on the rumours of Serena Williams' impending retirement

Day Two: The Championships - Wimbledon 2021

Since Serena Williams announced her wildcard entry to Wimbledon and Eastbourne, speculation has been rife about her possible retirement if she wins her 24th Grand Slam title at SW19, which has not surprised Pam Shriver.

“It’s definitely something that will be mentioned - the rumours around the press circulated when [Rafael] Nadal won at Roland Garros last month,” Shriver said.

Before her comeback, the last memory of Williams on the court was at Wimbledon 2021, where the teary-eyed American limped off to a standing ovation from the Centre Court crowd.

Shriver believes that Williams, who has seven singles and six doubles titles at Wimbledon, is back in action as she does not want her career to end on that sour note.

“I think the hamstring injury at Wimbledon last year motivated her to come back this time, not being able to finish on Centre Court. Maybe that played on her mind; she didn’t want that to be the last vision of her playing major tennis on what is probably her favorite court in the world,” Shriver said.

Shriver also speculated that Serena Williams' return could be related to pre-existing sponsorship commitments or maybe her former coach Patrick Mouratoglou leaving her to join forces with Simona Halep.

“It could have been endorsement-related, maybe the sponsors said 12 months or more injured meant that she was theoretically retired? Maybe her coach Patrick Mouratoglou teaming up with Simona Halep meant that she thought “OK then!”. He waited a long time for her to come back, but at a certain point everyone must move on,” she said.

“I really look forward to her first Wimbledon press conference to see if she opens up about the process, what made her want to come back and play this tournament specifically. It’s great that she’s returning, as it could last anywhere between one round and seven,” she concluded.