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Serena Williams is eligible to return to tennis later this month. It’s not clear if she will

FILE - Serena Williams acknowledges the crowd after losing to Ajla Tomljanovic, of Austrailia, iin the third round of the U.S. Open tennis championships, Sept. 2, 2022, in New York. (AP Photo/John Minchillo, File)
FILE - Serena Williams acknowledges the crowd after losing to Ajla Tomljanovic, of Austrailia, iin the third round of the U.S. Open tennis championships, Sept. 2, 2022, in New York. (AP Photo/John Minchillo, File) FILE - Serena Williams acknowledges the crowd after losing to Ajla Tomljanovic, of Austrailia, iin the third round of the U.S. Open tennis championships, Sept. 2, 2022, in New York. (AP Photo/John Minchillo, File)

By HOWARD FENDRICH / AP Tennis Writer 3 min read

Serena Williams passed another stage on the path to a possible comeback to professional tennis, being listed Monday by the sport’s drug-testing organization as eligible to return to competition on Feb. 22.

That is six months after the 23-time Grand Slam singles champion initially registered with the International Tennis Integrity Agency.

Williams, who is 44, was listed on the ITIA website’s reinstatement page Monday, a development first reported by Bounces.

What was not immediately known was when or where — or, truly, whether — Williams actually will play again.

When it was revealed last year that Williams had signed up with ITIA to return to the drug-testing pool, she wrote on social media: “Omg yall I’m NOT coming back. This wildfire is crazy.”