Serena Williams has taken the first step necessary before returning to tennis, registering with the sport’s drug testing body, a spokesman for the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) said on Tuesday.

The 23-time Grand Slam winner, one of the game’s greats, hasn’t competed since saying goodbye to the US Open in 2022. At the time, Williams said she didn’t want to use the word “retirement” and instead said she was “evolving” from tennis.

It wasn’t immediately clear when or where — or even if — Williams would actually play again. Her agent did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

However, Williams reached out to Xu to shut down talk of a return after the topic caused a stir.

“Omg yall, I am NOT coming back,” Williams announced. “This forest fire is crazy.”

Williams, now 44, was one of the biggest stars in any sport, a dominant talent on the field and still someone to take the spotlight off of. If he ends up going back on tour, that would be a significant story.

Bounces first reported her decision to return her name to the ITIA’s testing group, which oversees anti-doping and anti-corruption efforts.

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

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

Williams’ older sister, Venus, returned to competition this July at age 45 after nearly a year and a half off the tour; she never announced her retirement. At the US Open, Venus became the oldest player to play singles at the US Grand Slam tournament since 1981.

When Venus, the seven-time major singles champion, returned to the DC Open, she talked about wanting Serena back on tour. They won 14 Grand Slam doubles titles.

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