Mats Wilander says Serena Williams is targeting US Open and 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles - 'I don't think it's completely short-term'
Published 28/06/2026 at 08:55 GMT+1
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TNT Sports expert Mats Wilander believes that tennis legend Serena Williams will be aiming to compete at the 2026 US Open and the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles following her remarkable return at Wimbledon.
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Williams will play her first singles match since the 2022 US Open on Tuesday when she takes on Australia’s Maya Joint in the first round.
The 23-time Grand Slam champion has competed at the women’s doubles events at the Berlin Open and the Queen's Club Championships in recent weeks.
Wilander insists that her return is not a one-off, saying that he expects to see her at the US Open in August.
”I think Serena Williams' comeback, is not… I don't think it's completely short-term,” he told TNT Sports.
”I don't expect her to play Wimbledon singles and then not play the US Open. I expect her to play the US Open too.
”I don't think it matters that much, how she does. She's obviously aiming, I believe, at the Olympics in 2028 in Los Angeles. I'm assuming that that's something that's really important for her.
”She's won, obviously, a bunch of gold medals in singles and doubles, and I expect her to play the Olympics.”
Williams won her first match back alongside Victoria Mboko at Queen’s but the duo were forced to withdraw from the tournament after her Canadian partner sustained a knee injury.
She joined forces with Karolina Muchova in Berlin but they lost their opening match against Erin Routliffe and Giuliana Olmos.
Wilander believes that Williams has the best serve in the history of women’s tennis but worries that she may not be able to get over the line in long rallies.
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”I think on grass, the serve is the most important shot in the game, and we all know that Serena Williams most probably has the best women's serve of all time," he said.
”So that's okay. The return of serve, she always had an unbelievably good return of serve and, on grass, the return of serve is the second most important shot.
”The only worry I see for her is if she plays somebody who can get the serve back in play, who knows how to rally maybe three or four or five shots every rally and then I worry about Serena Williams' movement.
”And that… that doesn't have anything to do with her age.
”The movement for everybody is much, much harder on the grass court. You don't know if you're gonna slip, you don't know if you need to slide, you don't know if you should take short steps or long steps until you get some experience again.
”Of course, she has all the experience in the world, but she hasn't done it for so many years.
”So if the ball is in play, I worry for Serena Williams. But if she plays somebody that also has a big serve and the rallies are very short, then I don't think I worry that much.”
Joint has never played Williams and the 20-year-old has said that it is a dream come true to face the tennis legend at Wimbledon.
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Wilander believes that Williams’ aura will be off the charts against such a young opponent.
”I think the aura of Serena Williams is different depending on what the age is of the person she's playing against,” he said.
”So she's playing against Maya Joint, who's extremely young, who would have never played Serena Williams before.
”I mean, most players in the draw would have never played against Serena Williams before so that's the difference between Novak Djokovic, who has played against most guys in the Wimbledon draw, because he's not that old.”
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