Venus Williams claims Serena Williams is “not practicing” at the moment and therefore she thinks it is “unlikely” that her sister will make a tennis comeback.

Earlier this week, tennis journalist Ben Rothenberg reported that Serena – who left ITIA’s testing pool after retiring – was reinstated. Naturally, that sparked major comeback rumors.

Big breaking news at Bounces:

Serena Williams has applied for reinstatement to tennis, adding herself back into the tennis anti-doping program to set herself up for a comeback to competition in 2026.

Read all the details here:https://t.co/m5JQaLLv62

— Ben Rothenberg (@BenRothenberg) December 2, 2025

A few hours after the bombshell dropped, the 44-year-old took to X to shut down the rumors. 

“Omg yall I’m NOT coming back. This wildfire is crazy,” the former 23-time Grand Slam champion wrote on X.

Omg yall I’m NOT coming back. This wildfire is crazy-

— Serena Williams (@serenawilliams) December 2, 2025

Venus asked about the Serena comeback rumors

On Thursday evening, Venus took on Madison Keys in an exhibition match at the Charlotte Invitational. After picking a 6-7 0-6 loss to the reigning Australian Open champion, the five-time Wimbledon champion was asked about the rumors involving her sister Serena. 

“I can only speak for myself. All I know is I can’t get her on the court, she doesn’t practice, so, it seems very unlikely for me,” the seven-time Grand Slam champion said on Channel 9’s DaShawn Brown when asked about the possibility of her younger sister returning to tennis.

Serena announced in August 2022 that the US Open would be the last tournament of her career. After losing to Ajla Tomljanovic in the US Open third round, the former 23-time Grand Slam champion didn’t completely close the doors on returning one day. In February 2023, the American tennis legend admitted that she felt tempted to make a comeback, but ultimately decided against doing so.