Serena Williams has taken the first step toward a comeback to tennis by registering for drug tests

Serena Williams has taken the first step that would be required ahead of a comeback to tennis, registering with the sport’s drug-testing body, a spokesman for the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) said Tuesday.

The 23-time Grand Slam champion, one of the greats of the game, has not competed since bidding farewell at the 2022 U.S. Open. At the time, Williams said she didn’t want to use the word “retiring” and instead declared that she was “evolving” away from tennis.

It was not immediately clear when or where — or even if — Williams actually will play again. Her agent did not immediately return a request for comment.

Williams, who is now 44, was one of the biggest stars of any sport, a dominant talent on the court and still someone drawing attention away from it. If she does end up returning to the tour, it would be a significant story line.

Her decision to place her name back in the testing pool with the ITIA, which oversees anti-doping and anti-corruption efforts, was first reported by Bounces.

“She is on the list and back in the testing pool,” ITIA spokesman Adrian Bassett wrote to The Associated Press on Tuesday.

Athletes returning to testing need to provide information on their whereabouts — details on their location when they are not at an official event and times when they are available to give samples. Someone who retires while they are on the list and later comes back needs to be available for testing for six months before they are allowed to return to competition.

Williams’ older sister, Venus, returned to competition this July at age 45 after nearly 1 1/2 years away from the tour; she never had announced her retirement. At the U.S. Open, Venus became the oldest player to play singles at the American Grand Slam tournament since 1981.

When Venus, a seven-time major singles champion, came back at the DC Open, she spoke about wishing Serena would join her back on tour. They claimed 14 Grand Slam doubles titles as a pair.

“I keep saying to my team: The only thing that would make this better is if she was here. Like, we always did everything together, so of course I miss her,” Venus said at the time when asked about a video on social media that showed Serena swinging a racket. “But if she comes back, I’m sure she’ll let y’all know.”

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Howard Fendrich has been the AP’s tennis writer since 2002. Find his stories here: https://apnews.com/author/howard-fendrich. More AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis