All indications point to 44-year-old Serena Williams playing the US Open next month for the first time in four years.
"Her intention is to keep playing; the US Open as well," Rennae Stubbs, one of the 23-time Grand Slam champion's coaches, said at Wimbledon on Tuesday -- a week after Serena lost in her first singles match since 2022.
Williams injured her right knee midway through a three-set loss to Maya Joint at the All England Club and withdrew from a doubles match with older sister Venus on Saturday.
Williams shared an Instagram update over the weekend that included images of four syringes filled with fluid drained from her knee.
"As long as physically she can go -- and I'm hoping in a few weeks that's the case -- to get her back on the court and hitting balls," Stubbs said.
Main draw singles play at the US Open starts Aug. 30.
"All I can say," Serena said after her loss, "is stay tuned to a city near you."
Williams practiced at doubles great Bob Bryan's club in Florida earlier this year.
"She wasn't giving away too much information but she was getting 12 rackets strung. ... So we knew she was serious," Bryan told The Associated Press. "Hopefully she gets healthy and can make a run this summer. She's going to win again for sure. She's a champion."
Williams played only two doubles matches -- but no singles -- before Wimbledon. Expect her to play more singles before the US Open.
If she desires, Williams should have no problem obtaining wild-card invitations from tournament organizers at US Open warmups in Toronto and Cincinnati, Ohio.
"I know that for her, trying to play certainly something before the US Open will be something she would like to do," Stubbs said. "But at the same time, it's going to depend on how physically she's doing."
In Williams' social media post about her injury, she said "the good news is my knee shouldn't swell or collect that much fluid again."
Still, it was more of a factor against Joint than many people thought, according to Stubbs.
"She did whisper to me, 'I would have won if I had a good knee,'" Stubbs said. "Leading up to the tournament, she was playing practice sets [and] beating players that are still in the tournament. I won't mention which ones because I don't want to embarrass them, but she was playing well."
Despite being away for so long, Williams still hit serves beyond 120 mph and showed off her same old heavy groundstrokes, which landed within inches of the baseline.
"She did whisper to me, 'I would have won if I had a good knee.' Leading up to the tournament, she was playing practice sets (and) beating players that are still in the tournament. I won't mention which ones because I don't want to embarrass them but she was playing well." Rennae Stubbs, one of Serena Williams' coaches
The only real issue was her movement.
"Considering how bad the knee was it's pretty miraculous really that she went as long as she did in the match," Stubbs said. "She was rubbing her legs every change of end. ... So I could see that there was something going on that was a little unusual for her.
"But the fact that she got through, walked off the court and nobody even really knew was pretty miraculous. And it also shows how high her pain tolerance is."
After the grass of Wimbledon, the hard courts of the US Open -- which she has won six times in singles -- could be more favorable for Williams.
"Everybody saw her standard was still pretty good and so once she gets on the hard courts she's going to have better stability," Stubbs said. "We all know how well she plays on hard courts so it's just a matter of getting her body back in into the shape she wants."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.