Serena Williams is officially considered an active tennis player since last Sunday, when the six months required to re-entry in the anti-doping testing pool ended on February 22nd. Despite that, Williams retired from tennis in 2022, and has not played since, and even denied that she wanted to return to tennis.
However, her former coach Rick Macci is convinced that she will return, and explained to L'Equipe (via Tennis365) that "she's training with lots of sparring partners, he's also played with Alycia Parks, a good friend of hers in South Florida".
"So I have no doubt about it (her comeback). I always thought she would come back from time to time to make appearances with Venus in doubles. But we're not just talking about doubles here ... she's going all out. If she didn't think she could compete with the best and win matches, she wouldn't do it. It's 100% certain she'll dive back into competition."
There was speculation that she would return as early as next Indian Wells, starting on March 4, where her sister Venus will appear as a wildcard. If not, Miami Open follows as the next WTA Masters 1,000 on March 17-29.