Serena Williams - why did she enter Wimbledon?

[deedee176]

Surely not for the money. For the love of tennis and the winning buzz? Or was she being a bit delusional or arrogant to think she could be a top class sportsperson at 44. She was one of the worlds best and highest achieving athletes - her tennis legacy is unmatched.
AIBU to think she should not have entered Wimbledon?

You know what you were implying.

I’m not interested in the colour of anyone’s skin. The OP asked about her motivation, I gave my response. Her skin colour has nothing to do with it.

the crowd were very biased towards her
Maya had no idea what to say about beating her, only just 20.
it does seem strange but i guess it pulled in the punters

But it does.

She is one of the best tennis players of her generation. Perhaps ever. She has faced racism for her entire career. Calling her egotistical etc., can be inherently racist. Because it’s not really, is it? Why should she not take what she was offered?

For sponsorship money? For exposure? For the adrenaline high? For the competitive buzz? For the kudos of playing at an older age?

Who knows? Definitely for her ego. She said it was to show her children but I don't believe that was the main reason at all.

I agree that by taking the wild card, she took away the opportunity from someone younger who would have benefitted from the experience.

She said she wanted to show her kids what she did. I doubt she needs the money!
I dont think her age was as much of a factor rather that she had been retired 4 years. Stan Wawrinka played his last Wimbledon match last night and he is not much younger.
She took the match to 3 sets so still showed she's pretty competitive, although I was hoping Maya Joint would win.
Ultimately Wimbledon (not Serena) made the decision, because they could (but wouldn't) have turned down her wildcard application. I kind of felt bad that a new player that might never have been to Wimbledon before could have got that place....but there was a packed centre court for a first round match between a wildcard and an unknown. Shes the most successful female tennis player of all time, it would have been a great comeback story, had she got to eg the quarter final

Well said!
I was there last night , it was a joy to see Serena play . It felt like watching a piece of history.
When she won the second set, the roar of the crowd was spectacular - and it was a full house, even that late in the day.
It is a shame she didn’t win at least one match, but her opponent in this one, young Maya Joint, was absolutely brilliant. She is a tennis star in the making, the future belongs to her.

Farewell Serena. It was lovely to see the flashes of your brilliance one last time.

Why don’t you believe her?

She doesn’t owe anyone anything - if you want the experience, get yourself good enough to enter.

Tennis is entertainment. Serena is a big draw for the crowds so she fulfilled her purpose as an entertainer even if she wasn't at her best form. And Maya didn't beat her easily, so she's still a force to be reckoned with. I think Wimbledon were right to give her a wild card and she was right to take it.

I think it was an extraordinary comeback after 4 years in retirement from age 40.

A question: did SW need to stop WLI (that she promotes) last year in order to enter the dope testing cycle from December? Just curious.

Her skin colour has nothing to do with my response, you assume too much. I agree that she is a brilliant tennis player, I enjoyed watching her.

I think it was tied to her brand endorsements and increases her profile and there have been a lot of comments on "fat jabs" etc.

'For the children' is a classic line that people roll out when they do challenges. It's a justification but not the main reason why they do this. They don't want to admit that it is for their ego so they say it is to show their children - I find it hard to believe anyone who says this.

Yet you’ve said it’s because she needs money (she doesn’t, her net worth is estimated to be between $350 to $400 million), because of her ego and that she was “ungracious in defeat” - why?

I didn't see her being ungracious in defeat either. She left the court quickly which meant Maya could have her moment of winning on centre court without her (Serena) being a distraction.

I agree. It’s the same as the major golf tournaments where the players in their 60s and 70s get entry because they won it 30-40 years ago.

There’s a veterans’ tournament if you still want to make an appearance but I don’t think you should get a WC if you’ve hardly played all year snd you just say you’re ‘feeling it’. It’s particularly cringey as she’s already had a big send off when she originally retired.

I’d far rather the WC went to some young player who hasn’t had a chance to ever play at Wimbledon. It’s nothing against Serena herself. I also was pleased Dan Evans didn’t get a wild card because it’s his retirement tournament. He has only played a handful of matches all year and can’t be competitive. They got a lot of criticism for not giving him a WC but he only won one match in the qualifying tournament so it proved they were right.

Both of them should have and did get doubles WCs as that format is much less gruelling physically and easier for older players so they have a chance to actually compete.

I didn’t say she needed money. Clearly she doesn’t.
I thought she was ungracious towards Maya Joint at the end of the game. That does not mean that I do not think she is a fantastic tennis player.

“Money and ego”

That is what you said.

She was likely paid very well in sponsorships.

If Serena had hung around for an interview after losing people would have moaned she was making it about her.

She still has the doubles with Venus. Looking forward to that. Then, I think that probably really will be it for both of them.

Well, in this interview she explains her motivation: https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2026/jun/29/serena-williams-wimbledon-2026-tennis

Looks like she wanted to play again but under no pressure to win. She wanted to see what she could do.

Yes, but I didn’t say she needed money. Of course she doesn’t. It isn’t unusual for rich people to still want more, we see it all over the place.

She’s a brilliant tennis player and I wanted her to win.

I answered the question about why I thought she entered.

I'm no fan of Serena Williams as a person, I think she has an arrogant attitude sometimes, however you cannot dispute that she receives a lot more negative commentary than her white female sportswomen paramours.

I think there's a conflation of both sexism (she has a very strong, not typically eurocentric feminine athletic build) and her skin colour. Tennis has been notoriously elitist, classist, and racially homogeneous (narrow might be a better word) and that's been said by people who professionally comment on and are responsible for recruiting and nurturing young talent in the game. Some have said Britain would have more champions if it was less so.

So when one sees criticism, they look at the content and spirit of it and think is this valid or mean? and would it be said by another white champion? Often the conclusion to those above questions in regard to critique of either of the sisters is yes and very probably not. Because in tennis well as far as Britain goes, I see white champions given god like praise. There was some girl I forget her name now, who won a few years ago and my god, you would have thought saying her name would produce rain the way she was lionised by the media. Offered golden brand deals straight away. It's a big contrast.

I mean belittling her receiving the wildcard: What's that about? This is a woman who has done a ton for female players of the sport (I think she was vocal in arguing female players should receive the same prize money men do, but open to correction on that) inspired generations of women, especially women of non-caucasian ethnicities, and women from poor backgrounds of every ethnicity intimidated by poor access to the sport, and been a prolific champion breaking records. So should she have been offered the WC? Why the hell not? Should she have accepted it? Yes, if she wants to play. Particularly if she had the Olympics in view.

Any person who was a champion and major advancer in any sport should be able to re-enter that sport at a level slightly above in my opinion. If they're not fit they'll be taken out as has happened here. I bet her opponent is on cloud nine to have defeated a legend of the sport and isn't spinning negative narratives in her head.

Please stop it. You know nothing about me.

Yes, I think it's to do with her deal with GLP-1s. I heard so much talk yesterday of the fact she's taken weight loss drugs (even McEnroe mentioned it) it does feel like the drug company offered her a load of money to play Wimbledon, a sum that she couldn't refuse.
If they didn't, they've had a whole load of free advertising!

But either way, people were clearly very happy to see her on Centre Court yesterday, and in sure Joint enjoyed the atmosphere and playing her. I was happy to see her.