This much is true: Serena Williams hasn't played a sanctioned event since the 2022 US Open. The last time she won as much as a WTA 1000 tournament was 2017, when she won the Australian Open. In other words, Serena Williams, as great as she was, hasn't won a major event in nearly a decade.
Expecting her to come back at 44 years old and thinking she could compete for titles is a mistake. Sure, quarterback Philip Rivers returned recently and played for the Indianapolis Colts, and he did, well...meh, but playing football and playing tennis are completely different things.
Rivers doesn't have to run much unless he is forced to. He has other players to help him. For a tennis player like Serena Williams, she is out on the court on her own, playing a sport that requires an elite level of cardiovascular endurance. She likely no longer has that.
Serena Williams asserts she isn't coming back to play tennis, and she shouldn't
Still, Williams reportedly asked to be potentially reinstated, and she is listed among players who could be drug tested as of October 6. Players who are actively playing have to consistently let their whereabouts be known and available for drug testing. Tennis doesn't play around.
Serena Williams apparently shut down any fans' hopes that she might return to the sport by tweeting on December 2, "Omg y'all I’m NOT coming back. This wildfire is crazy."
Of course, fans of all sports have seen players say they aren't returning only to have them do so. Heck, the idea of a return might not have been something that Serena Williams was even thinking about until news of her being potentially drug tested came to light. Maybe now she is thinking, "If Philip Rivers can do it, so can I."
She shouldn't. Williams could return, but why would fans want her to? We have so many memories of her elite play (brutal and beautiful at the same time), where opponents had little hope. But that wouldn't be the case now, just as it wasn't the case for the final five years of her career.
Tennis lovers shouldn't be left with the final memories of Serena Williams' playing career being ones where she is easily defeated; a shell of the player she used to be. She probably doesn't want that either, which is why she outwardly says she has no plans to come back.
The only real hope she and her fans might have is if she comes back to play doubles with her sister, Venus Williams. That would be fun.