Despite insisting that she was not plotting a comeback, Serena Williams is about to be reinstated as an active tennis player in the eyes of the International Tennis Integrity Agency.
The agency has added Williams, 44, to its reinstatements list, effective February 22, 2026, once she has completed her mandatory six-month waiting period after re-entering the anti-doping testing pool.
“The Serena comeback is now officially official,” declared tennis reporter Ben Rothenberg, who first shared a screenshot of Williams’ name on the reinstatement list via his Bounces blog.
News of Williams’ apparent comeback comes one day after she made headlines for appearing in a Super Bowl commercial for the weight loss company Ro. (Her husband, Alexis Ohanian, is on the board of Ro.)
“I’m on Ro. 34 pounds down on Ro,” she said in the ad, which aired during the Seattle Seahawks’ win over the New England Patriots. “Healthier on Ro. Supported by Ro. FDA-approved, GLP-1 options now even in a pill. Weight loss expertise that I trust. I’m moving better on Ro. I’m feeling better on Ro. I’m Serena Williams. This is me on Ro.”
“I feel better now than I have in years,” Williams added in a statement to promote the ad. “For me, this journey has been about feeling strong, energized, and healthy in my body; I feel like myself again. Being on Ro helped me focus on my health in a way that actually worked for me, and I’m excited to share how great I feel with millions of people during the Super Bowl.”
Williams has been open about her decision to take a GLP-1 in the past. She also touted her weight loss in an August 2025 interview with People.
“It was crazy because I’d never been in a place like that in my life where I worked so hard, ate so healthy and could never get down to where I needed to be at,” she said. “I had never taken shortcuts in my career and always worked really hard. I know what it takes to be the best.”
As of 2026, professional tennis has not banned GLP-1s, but that could soon change. The World Anti-Doping Agency has added the drugs to its monitoring program, meaning the organization is still studying the compound’s effect on athletes.
For Williams, that could come into play if she is, in fact, returning to tennis — something she denied via X when news first broke that she had re-entered the testing pool last year.
“Omg yall I’m NOT coming back,” she wrote via X at the time. “This wildfire is crazy.”
She dodged the rumor on January 28, however, when she appeared on Today and host Savannah Guthrie pressed her on the topic.
“I mean, really? Are you asking this on the Today show? Oh my gosh,” Williams said.
After some back and forth, Guthrie, 54, asked if Williams’ evasions were “a no.”
“I’m just having fun and enjoying my life right now,” Williams replied. “I’m just gonna see what happens.”
“That’s a ‘maybe’ to me,” Guthrie said.
Williams insisted, “That’s not a ‘maybe.’”
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