If you felt a sudden disturbance in the Force yesterday, it was probably the collective gasp of tennis Twitter hyperventilating over a potential return of the GOAT. For a few glorious, chaotic hours, the internet convinced itself that Serena Williams was dusting off her racket and coming out of retirement. The hype train left the station, hit max speed, and was swiftly derailed by the woman herself in less than 280 characters.

Here is the lowdown on why everyone lost their minds, why Williams isn’t pulling a Tom Brady, and why we really need to stop reading into administrative paperwork.

The Spark That Started the Wildfire

It all started with some classic internet sleuthing. News broke—confirmed by the International Tennis Integrity Agency ( ITIA )—that Williams had re-entered the s

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