Serena Williams Gets Wimbledon Singles Wild Card

While it's a major bummer that the upcoming Wimbledon Grand Slam tournament from London will not feature injured men's world No. 2 Carlos Alcaraz, a two-time champion on the grass courts of the All England Club, the event got a lot more interesting on Sunday. That's because organizers granted seven-time women's champion Serena Williams a wild card to play singles.

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Now, is the 44-year-old likely to win title No. 8? Certainly not, as Serena hasn't played singles in a WTA Tour event since a three-set loss to Australia's Ajla Tomljanović in the third round of the 2022 U.S. Open on Sept 2, 2022. That is why Williams is a +3500 long shot at DraftKings. We will find out her first-round opponent during the draw Friday, with the event starting June 29. She would look to become the third-oldest woman to win a singles match at Wimbledon.

Williams has played a couple of doubles matches this year, winning one with Canadian partner Victoria Mboko recently at the HSBC Championships (Queen's Club) in London. They beat Nicole Melichar-Martinez and Erin Routliffe in straight sets, 7-6, 6-2, before going out in Round 2. Serena also played in Berlin with Karolína Muchová, but they were ousted in Round 1 by doubles specialists Routliffe and Giuliana Olmos, 6-4, 6-4.

Serena's 23 Grand Slam titles are one shy of the all-time women's mark held by Australia's Margaret Court, and her seven Wimbledon crowns tied for third-most with Martina Navratilova leading with nine. Williams' last singles match at Wimbledon was also in 2022, when she was upset in the first round by Harmony Tan in three sets. When asked earlier this month if she would consider a singles return at Wimbledon, Serena had said: "You think I'm ready for singles? I need to get to work."

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Serena and 46-year-old sister Venus, a five-time Wimbledon champion, have been granted wild-card entry to play doubles – Venus isn't playing singles. After spending six months in the sport's anti-doping testing pool, Serena became eligible to enter events in February. She has mentioned wanting her children, now 8 and 3, to see her play again. Her last Wimbledon title came in 2016, when she and Venus also won the doubles event. Serena hasn't won a singles match at Wimbledon since 2019, when she lost in the final to Romania's Simona Halep.

Overall, Serena has won 107 of her 123 career singles matches on grass courts. That's her best surface, with an 87% win rate, but I'd sure expert to see her at this year's U.S. Open now unless Wimbledon goes terribly.

The Williams sisters have won 14 Grand Slam titles together in doubles, including six at Wimbledon. The first was in 2000 and the last in 2016. Their first two doubles titles at Wimbledon, in 2000 and 2002, were as wild cards. Serena also won a mixed doubles title with Max Mirnyi at Wimbledon in 1998 and singles gold at the 2012 London Olympics when the tennis competition was held at Wimbledon.

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The women's singles favorite at Wimbledon is world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka (+330) of Belarus. She has won the Australian Open (2021) and U.S. Open (2019) in her career but not been to the final at Wimbledon yet. The favorite for top American is world No. 7 Coco Gauff at +150 and she's +1200 to win it (Serena is part of "any other player on the USA prop at +1600). The farthest Gauff has gone at the All-England Club is the fourth round. Any American winning women's singles is +300. It would sure be interesting to see Gauff meet her idol Serena in Round 1.

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_Originally reported by [CBS Sports](https://www.cbssports.com/betting/news/serena-williams-granted-wild-card-entry-at-wimbledon-singles-but-is-long-shot-in-tennis-odds-for-eighth-title/)._