Will she, won’t she? Serena Williams refuses to rule out return to tennis in evasive TV interview: ‘I don’t know, I’m just going to see what happens’

“It’s neither a yes nor a no. I don’t know, I’m just going to see what happens,” Serena kept it hanging.

When Interviewer Savannah Guthrie remarked that “that’s a maybe to me”, the four-time Olympic champion said “It’s not a maybe”.

When asked why she re-entered the dope-testing pool, Serena was equally evasive.

“I don’t know if I was out. Listen, I can’t discuss this,” she said.

Serena’s name appeared on a document published by the ITIA on October 6, and players are only eligible to return to competition once they have completed six months in the testing pool. The updated list published in December still has her name. The earliest date for a possible return to the tennis court would be sometime in April this year.

Speculation about Serena’s return to the game also refuses to die down because Venus, her sister who is more than a year older to her, has still not retired and even played at the ongoing Australian Open, where she lost in the first round.

There may be a possibility that Serena wants to play doubles with her elder sibling before the latter finally retires. The two have a stellar record together, winning three Olympic women’s doubles gold medals besides as many as 14 Grand Slam titles.

The interaction on the TV show was awkward with Serena not too forthcoming in her responses. The mother of two said she had recently put stay-at-home mum and housewife as her occupation on a form, BBC Sport reported.

“Oh, are you really going to ask me this on this show,” a spiky Serena remarked. “I’m just having fun and enjoying life right now.”

If Serena wanted to “put it (rumours) to bed”, her evasive replies had exactly the opposite effect.