Serena Williams’ likely comeback raises one big question: Why now?

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When Serena Williams announces her inevitable comeback to professional tennis in the coming days, there’s an important question I hope she will address in detail.

Why?

Why is a 44-year-old mother of two who has won everything there is to win and got an amazing send-off four years ago at the U.S. Open going through all this one more time?

After more than six months in the drug testing pool — a clear sign of her intention to play again — and now multiple reports that she’s requested wild cards to grass tournaments next month heading into Wimbledon, it’s the elephant in the room.

What does she want out of this? What does she think she’s going to accomplish?

To be clear, that’s not meant as a criticism. Given all she’s done for the game, Serena can do whatever she wants. If she think it’s worth a try, go right ahead. Every tournament on the calendar would love to give her a wild card and welcome her back.

And no matter the results, seeing her again on a tennis court will be a jolt for the sport this summer. It will, at the very least, be interesting to see what level she can compete at four years after — and we should be honest about this — an ending that was far from an embarrassment but exposed her physical decline against younger and fitter opponents.

So … why?

Did the first-round loss to Harmony Tan in her final Wimbledon leave such a bad a taste that she hasn’t gotten over it? Does she want her oldest daughter Alexis, now 8 years old, to remember watching her play? Is she aiming to play doubles with Venus? After losing more than 30 pounds and becoming a spokesperson for a GLP-1 drug, does she think she has a chance to do more damage now than a few years ago?

Or is she just bored?

It’s all fascinating.

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Throughout history, tennis players have been notoriously bad at retirement. Bjorn Borg tried a comeback and flopped. Martina Navratilova came back in her mid-40s and had some success in doubles, winning a U.S. Open mixed title right before her 50th birthday. She even became the oldest woman to win a Grand Slam singles match at age 47.

So it’s not impossible to believe that a fit and committed Serena could produce some fun moments for her fans and win some matches along the way.

But when she left the game in 2022, using the phrase “evolving” away from tennis rather than retirement, it seemed like the right time. Williams was still a capable player, but the younger generation was getting better as she was declining.

And at that time, it seemed clear she wasn’t going to win the 24th Grand Slam title to tie her with Margaret Court — a phony record to begin with, given that seven of Court’s Australian titles were won before the Open era when the field was predominantly Australian amateurs.

Though Williams desperately had 24 in her mind in her final years, it seemed like there were declining returns in working so hard to chase something she couldn’t achieve.

It’s difficult to imagine much has changed in that regard over the last four years. The idea of a 44-year old Serena going toe-to-toe with a world class athlete in their prime like Aryna Sabalenka or Coco Gauff seems bizarre, even delusional.

With Serena, our minds should be open to the impossible but our expectations should be low.

Maybe that’s not even what she’s after. Perhaps, in her calculus, simply being semi-competitive in her mid-40s would be as much validation for the work she’s putting in as winning all those big trophies before she became a mother.

After all, there’s really nothing to lose. The most inane conversation in sports is whether someone tarnishes their legacy by performing poorly at the end of their career. It’s complete nonsense. What Williams accomplished cannot be cheapened even if she comes back, loses a bunch of matches in a row and slinks back into retirement.

At this point, it’s all upside.

But it’s also a bit confusing. When Serena left the game four years ago, it seemed like a natural end point to enter a new phase of life. She had nothing to prove to anyone, including herself. Her family and her business empire had become more of a priority.

Something has changed. As she prepares for a return to professional tennis, it would be useful to know what it is.