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Ajla Tomljanovic’s greatest claim to fame is soon to be wiped.
The Croatian-born Australian is a triple grand slam quarter-finalist, including at the 2022 US Open, where she upset Serena Williams in three sets under lights on the world’s biggest tennis stadium, in what was supposed to be the American legend’s last singles match.
Three years and nine months later, Williams – in incredible physical condition at 44 – and her fearsome ball-striking are back. She has scored a singles wildcard to compete at Wimbledon, where she is a seven-time winner.
The rumblings started many months earlier, when news broke that the 23-time grand slam champion and four-time Olympic gold medallist had re-entered the anti-doping testing pool that professional players must abide by.
Wimbledon made Williams’ singles comeback official this week – having previously announced her doubles wildcard with older sister and fellow great Venus – but Tomljanovic, like many others, was already bracing for it.
“If she comes back, it’s going to be great to see her,” Tomljanovic said. “If she doesn’t, I’ll still be the last one.”
Williams steered away from using the “R” word when she retired in 2022, instead explaining she had “evolved away from tennis”.
Now she has seemingly evolved back to the sport that made her a superstar, and this time as a mother of two.
It was apparently her eight-year-old daughter Olympia’s idea for her to play doubles with Venus at Wimbledon, while two-year-old Adira was also in the stands for Williams’ successful doubles return with Victoria Mboko, the young Canadian who grew up idolising her, at the Queen’s Club in London a fortnight ago.
Asked afterwards what they thought of their mum’s win, a smiling Williams quipped: “Adira wanted to go to the toy store, and Olympia wanted to know what was for dinner.”
What happens next in this most anticipated of comebacks is anyone’s guess.
Williams, who will have Australian coach Rennae Stubbs in her corner, insists she is placing no pressure on herself, even if her comeback relaunches the possibility of matching Margaret Court’s record 24 grand slam singles titles.
“I don’t need to win,” she said.
“I’ve won more than most people have in their whole lives, so for me, that is not important to me, and it’s important that I keep reminding myself of that because I don’t have anything to prove. I don’t have anything to lose, and everything here is just to gain.”
Williams’ most recent major singles title came at the 2017 Australian Open, while she was eight weeks’ pregnant with Olympia. At 35 years and 124 days old at the time, she remains the oldest women’s open era champion.
Court’s record proved elusive in the years that followed, despite Williams going close with four runner-up finishes at Wimbledon and the US Open, as well as two other semi-finals at Melbourne Park and Flushing Meadows.
It would be unprecedented for a 44-year-old to win a grand slam singles title.
Australia’s Ken Rosewall is the oldest open era men’s winner at 37 years and 62 days old, while Novak Djokovic was four months from turning 39 when he contested this year’s Australian Open final.
Going further back, 1909 Wimbledon winner Arthur Gore is the oldest grand slam singles champion in tennis history at 41 years and 182 days old. Put simply, everyone should keep expectations for Williams in check.
But there is another element to this comeback.
Williams’ imposing physique was always part of her package, to the point she was a significant role model for body positivity to women the world over.
But her weight – despite being arguably the GOAT of women’s tennis – remained a talking point, particularly after she gave birth to Olympia. Her ex-coach, Patrick Mouratoglou, has since admitted they had fights about her condition, adding that “tennis is a sport in which you can’t afford to be overweight”.
Then came a revelation.
In August last year, Williams said she was taking a weight-loss medication, Zepbound, after struggling to shed kilograms through dieting and exercise after her two pregnancies.
On what amounted to a media tour across several months, including Oprah Winfrey’s podcast, she detailed how she lost about 15 kilograms in roughly a year.
Being healthier, Williams hoped, would stop her from becoming the latest family member to be diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, which is a higher risk among African American adults.
But this wasn’t purely Williams sharing her personal weight-loss journey.
She is a paid ambassador for Ro, a telehealth company that prescribes GLP-1 medications (glucagon-like peptide 1, which regulates insulin, the hormone that controls glucose levels in the body and which causes us to feel full after eating), to normalise the use of weight-loss drugs and change the narrative that it is a “shortcut”. Williams’ husband, Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian, is a Ro investor and is on its board.
Prominent fitness influencers, as well as diet culture critic Jameela Jamil, have expressed disappointment at Williams promoting weight-loss medications.
British podcaster Catherine Whitaker did the same in an emotional segment on The Tennis Podcast, saying she felt “deep unease” at Williams’ actions.
“The most important thing that Serena represented to me was body positivity ... I remember at the 2007 Australian Open where she was fat-shamed but steamrolled through the draw,” Whitaker said.
“She showed with all her achievements that skinnier doesn’t always mean it’s better, or healthier.
“I can’t tell you how powerful a message that felt for women and girls, but when I saw her promoting the GLP-1 weight-loss drugs, which her husband sits on the board of ... my heart honestly broke.
“I think the marketing of them [GLPs] preys on women’s insecurities, in what, I think, is a very sinister way.”
Still, world No.1 Aryna Sabalenka headlines a chorus of positivity about Williams’ return, labelling it “very good news for tennis”.
It is not often that fans receive another chance to celebrate a sporting icon, and Craig Tiley’s successor at Tennis Australia, Andrew Abdo, will be desperate for Williams to play at Melbourne Park in January.
The question will be, how long this career extension lasts.
Watch Wimbledon from 7.30pm Monday (AEST) on the Nine Network and Stan Sport.
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