Remarkable Tennis Comebacks: Players Who Returned After 40 Years Old

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Kyle Eve
Kyle Eve in Tennis
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Remarkable Tennis Comebacks: Players Who Returned After 40 Years Old

With Serena Williams recently making her return to the court, it naturally raises a bigger question: which athletes have come back to professional tennis after turning 40 years old?

The Williams sisters are the most famous examples, but they’re not alone. A small, but remarkable, group of players have also picked up a racket again, long after most careers wind down.

In this piece, I break down the complete list of players who returned after 40 and explore how each of their comebacks has unfolded under the spotlight.

Tennis Players Who Returned After 40 Years Old

PLAYER AGE RETIRED/HIATUS AGE RETURNED BREAK/HIATUS
Venus Williams 43 45 2023-2025
Serena Williams 40 44 2022-2026
Martina Navratilova 37 43 1994-2000
Vera Zvonareva 39 41 2024-2025

There have been many notable players on the WTA and ATP Tours who took breaks and returned to the game, including stars like Roger Federer and Stan Wawrinka. However, only a very small number have managed to come back after turning 40.

It’s a tiny, exclusive group, and their achievements are a remarkable testament to longevity at the highest level. As athletes in many sports continue to push their bodies well into their 40s, you can expect this list to grow in the future.

Right now, all four tennis players who have returned at 40 or older are women competing on the WTA Tour. To learn more about these extraordinary athletes, keep reading below.

Venus Williams

  • Age Retired/Break: 43
  • Age Returned: 45
  • WTA Titles: 71 (49 Singles, 22 Doubles)
  • Grand Slams: 7

In a stunning defiance of father time, Venus Williams remains active on the WTA Tour at 46 years old. Following a lengthy break due to chronic injuries in 2023, including a severe hamstring and managing her autoimmune disorder, Williams made a miraculous return 16 months later to play in the 2025 US Open main draw.

While Williams didn’t officially retire from tennis in 2023, there was widespread agreement that Wimbledon could have been her final tournament. However, Williams remained committed to getting back on the tennis court at the highest level of competition.

At the Mubadala Citi DC Open in Washington, she turned back the clock with a vintage performance, fighting through tight main-draw singles matches and defeating Eugenie Bouchard and Peyton Stearns before bowing out in a competitive Round of 16 battle.

However, her biggest splash of 2025 came at Flushing Meadows. While she dropped a hard-fought three-set singles opener to the elite Karolína Muchová at Arthur Ashe Stadium, Venus electrified the New York crowds by leaning heavily into doubles.

Partnering with Canada’s Leylah Fernandez, the duo put together a phenomenal run all the way to the US Open women’s doubles quarterfinals in the delight of the crowd, showing that Venus’s net instincts and baseline power remain solid. In June 2026, it was announced that Venus received a wild card invite to play alongside Serena in the double’s tournament at Wimbledon.

Serena Williams

  • Age Retired/Break: 40
  • Age Returned: 44
  • WTA Titles: 96 (73 Singles, 23 Doubles)
  • Grand Slams: 39

The most notable post-40 comeback in tennis belongs to Serena Williams. After the 2022 US Open, Williams stepped away from the sport. She never officially used the word “retire,” but there was a growing sense that it was her farewell.

Four years later, on June 9, 2026, she made her long-awaited return to competition. Williams teamed up with 19-year-old Canadian Victoria Mboko at the Queen’s Club Championship in London. The pair won their opening match 7-6, 6-2, before being forced to withdraw when Mboko suffered a knee injury.

The 44-year-old, 39-time Grand Slam champion wasted little time getting back on court again. She next appeared at the Berlin Open, partnering Karolína Muchová in a first-round doubles loss to Erin Routliffe and Giuliana Olmos, 4-6, 4-6. Despite the defeat, Williams remains undeterred as she works to shake off the rust.

Widely regarded as one of the most accomplished women’s tennis players in history, Williams holds the Open Era record with 23 Grand Slam singles titles. Adding to that total at this stage will be a daunting task, but simply returning is an achievement in itself.

Now, attention turns to Wimbledon, where all eyes are on the Williams sisters and their latest doubles campaign. Make sure to pay attention to their odds at top tennis betting sites to see their chances for a highly anticipated Wimbledon.

It was also just announced that Serena will play in the singles draw at Wimbledon, where she won seven times in singles and six times in doubles with her sister, as a wild card!

Martina Navratilova

  • Age Retired/Break: 37
  • Age Returned: 43
  • WTA Titles: 354 (167 Singles, 177 Doubles)
  • Grand Slams: 59

Martina Navratilova’s return to professional tennis at age 43 remains one of the most astonishing chapters in sports history. After retiring from full-time singles competition in 1994 with an already legendary resume, Navratilova spent several years away from the grueling schedule of the WTA Tour.

However, the competitive fire never truly flickered out. In 2000, the same year she was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame, she shocked the tennis community by launching a comeback primarily focused on doubles. While most athletes find their bodies breaking down by their early 40s, Navratilova proved that her world-class fitness had barely faded.

Her post-43 second act was not a ceremonial victory lap, as she was actively hunting down Grand Slam trophies against opponents who were roughly half her age. The top of her historic comeback arrived in 2003. At 46 years and 261 days old, Navratilova partnered with Leander Paes to win the mixed doubles championship at Wimbledon.

This astonishing feat achieved two monumental milestones: it made her the oldest player ever to win a Wimbledon title, and it tied her with her longtime friend and rival Billie Jean King for the all-time record of 20 total Wimbledon titles across singles, doubles, and mixed disciplines. Earlier that same year, she also won the Australian Open mixed doubles title, completing a rare “boxed set”, winning every possible title (singles, doubles, and mixed) at all four Grand Slam tournaments over her lifetime.

Navratilova continued to rewrite the record books right up until her final exit from the game. In 2004, at 47 years old, she accepted a wild card in the Wimbledon singles draw and won her first-round match, becoming the oldest woman in the Open Era to win a Grand Slam singles match.

Two years later, she capped off her career in Hollywood fashion at the 2006 US Open. Just a month shy of her 50th birthday, she teamed up with Bob Bryan to win the mixed doubles crown. It was the 59th Grand Slam title of her life, securing her status as the oldest major champion in tennis history before she retired for good to cap off one of the greatest comebacks ever in sports history.

Vera Zvonareva

  • Age Retired/Break: 38
  • Age Returned: 41
  • WTA Titles: 28 (12 Singles, 16 Doubles)
  • Grand Slams: 5

Vera Zvonareva’s modern post-40 career is one of the most underrated, resilient journeys in the sport. A former World No. 2 in singles and two-time Grand Slam finalist (Wimbledon and US Open 2010), Zvonareva’s career has been a masterclass in adaptation.

After multiple injuries, marriage, and giving birth to her daughter, she pivoted into a doubles force. However, it is her sensational, completely unexpected comeback at age 41 that has solidified her spot among the ultimate longevity legends in tennis.

In May 2024, after a string of early losses and a mid-match injury at the French Open, Zvonareva vanished from the tour for 18 months. Having turned 41 in September of that year, the tennis community widely assumed she had quietly retired. Behind the scenes, however, Zvonareva was recovering from a grueling second major shoulder surgery.

Her official return was a stunning success. She accepted a wild card at an ITF event in Dubai, reaching the finals in both singles and doubles in her very first week back. Buoyed by the realization that her game could still thrive at the elite level, she managed a packed calendar and even successfully battled through tough qualifying draws to win matches at top-tier WTA 1000 events at Doha and Dubai.

The 41-year-old Russian kicked off her season by surging into the Australian Open doubles semifinals alongside partner Ena Shibahara and soon reunited with long-time partner Laura Siegemund to capture runner-up honors at the Dubai Tennis Championships.

Just recently, she fought all the way to the women’s doubles quarterfinals at the French Open, proving she remains competitive on the Grand Slam stage.

About the Author
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Kyle Eve
Editor-in-Chief
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Kyle Eve is Editor-in-Chief of The Sports Geek, providing reliable analysis for millions of readers since joining the team in 2012. After placing his first sports bet on his 18th birthday, Kyle has devoted his entire adult life to becoming the best bettor he can be. He’s covered some of the biggest sporting events in the world, from the Super Bowl and World Series to the NBA Finals and Kentucky Derby. Kyle lives in Windsor, Ontario.
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