Serena in line for comeback

SERENA Williams will play singles at Wimbledon after being awarded a wildcard.

The 23-time grand slam singles champion made a tearful exit in the first round at the All England Club 12 months ago after retiring during the first set against Aliaksandra Sasnovich due to a leg injury and doubts had been growing about whether she would play again.

But yesterday Williams posted on Instagram: “SW and SW19. It’s a date. 2022 See you there.”

British No 7 Ryan Peniston enjoyed a dream Queen’s Club debut by knocking out the top seed and world No 5 Casper Ruud.

The little-known 26-year-old from Southend, playing in his first ATP Tour main draw, won two tie-breaks to beat last month’s French Open runner-up 7-6 (4) 7-6 (2).

RORY McIlroy has expressed his disappointment at the players who performed a U-turn to join the Saudibacked LIV Golf Series, as he conceded being the poster boy of the PGA Tour was a “burden” he could do without.

McIlroy felt the proposed rebel circuit was “dead in the water” after Dustin Johnson and Bryson DeChambeau committed their futures to the PGA Tour in the wake of Phil Mickelson’s explosive comments about the Tour and Saudi Arabia being published in February.

In an interview with the author of a recently published biography, Mickelson admitted he was fully aware of Saudi Arabia’s “horrible record on human rights”, including the murder of Washington Post reporter Jamal Khashoggi, but was using the threat of a breakaway to “reshape” how the Tour operates.

LIV Golf chief executive Greg Norman said the organisation’s full league of 14 events had been ready to launch until Mickelson’s comments cost him several

Serena Williams