Serena Williams will be eligible to return to tennis from Sunday, 22 February – but it is unclear if or when the American great will make a comeback.
Williams’ name appeared on the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) reinstatements list on Monday, meaning she can enter tournaments from the date specified, the organisation confirmed to BBC Sport.
However, the 23-time Grand Slam singles champion has not announced an official return after ending her career at the 2022 US Open.
BBC Sport has contacted Williams’ agent and the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) for comment.
Retired players can be reinstated and return to sanctioned events once they have made themselves available for out-of-competition drug testing for at least six months.
In December, the ITIA confirmed to BBC Sport that Williams was back on the list of players registered for the drug testing pool.
Once a player is in the pool, they must let testers know where they will be for one hour of every day.
Hours later, Williams, 44, posted on social media: “I’m NOT coming back. This wildfire is crazy.”
She then refused to rule out a comeback at the end of January, telling the Today Show: “I don’t know, I’m just going to see what happens.”
Interviewer Savannah Guthrie pushed Williams further, saying, “That’s a maybe to me,” and the seven-time Wimbledon singles champion said, “It’s not a maybe.”
Asked whether she had re-entered the drug testing pool, Williams said: “I don’t know if I was out. Listen, I can’t discuss this.
“If I want to put it [rumours] to bed… listen, I want to go to bed.”
Williams previously spoke about using weight-loss drugs in August and appeared in a commercial for the drug during Sunday’s Super Bowl.
The 23-time Grand Slam singles champion has never liked the word retirement and instead said she was “evolving away” from the sport when she ended her career in New York.
Only Margaret Court and Novak Djokovic have won more Grand Slam singles titles than Williams.
Her haul of seven Australian Open titles, three French Opens, seven Wimbledons and six US Opens is the most major singles titles by any woman in the Open era.
She and her elder sister, Venus, who is still active on the WTA Tour, won 14 Grand Slam doubles titles and three Olympic golds together.
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