Williams back in action as she continues quest for record 24th major
After a year off, competition will be stiff at Wimbledon for the former world No. 1
Serena Williams will resume her quest for an elusive 24th Grand Slam singles title at this month's Wimbledon after making her long-awaited return to the tour when she competes in doubles at the Eastbourne International.
The former world No. 1 has not played competitive tennis since limping out of last year's firstround match at the grass-court major — where she has won seven of her 23 titles — in tears due to a leg injury.
The 40-year-old has slipped down the rankings to 1,208th and needed a wild card from the All England Lawn Tennis Club, which organizes Wimbledon, to compete in the main draw of women's singles.
But Williams will first team up with Tunisian world No. 4 Ons Jabeur for the doubles event at Eastbourne, which gets underway this weekend.
“SW and SW19. It's a date. 2022 See you there,” Williams wrote on Instagram on Tuesday, referring to the postal code of the tennis club that hosts Wimbledon.
Britain's Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) said the pairing of Williams, who has also won 14 Grand Slam doubles titles, and Jabeur is not likely to play its first match before Tuesday in the WTA 250 tournament.
“I am excited to return to the Rothesay International tournament in England and to be back on the grass — a surface that has been so good to me throughout my career,” Williams said in a statement from the LTA.
“Eastbourne has a unique charm that you don't see anywhere else on tour and I'm looking forward to playing in front of the fans again.”
Since lifting her last Grand Slam trophy at the 2017 Australian Open, Williams has been in search of an elusive 24th that will put her level with Australian Margaret Court for the most major titles.
She reached the final at four majors since returning to the tour after giving birth to daughter Olympia in 2017, but lost in straight sets on each occasion.
However, Williams no longer rates as a slam dunk in tennis Grand Slams.
Williams was installed Tuesday at +2300 odds with Fanduel to win at the All England Club.
Williams comes back without the threat of Australian Ash Barty, who retired and has since been dethroned as the world No. 1 by Iga Swiatek.
Swiatek is the favourite at FanDuel with +145 odds, followed by Coco Gauff (+1200), Simona Halep (+1700) and Naomi Osaka (+1700).
The main draw at Wimbledon starts on June 27.
Montreal's Felix Auger-aliassime moved on to the second round of the Halle Open tennis tournament with a 6-3, 5-7, 6-3 win over American Marcos Giron on Tuesday in Germany.
Auger-aliassime, seeded fourth at the ATP 500 grass-court event, broke Giron five times on nine chances, including the clinching game of the first set and a crucial break in the third set that gave him a 4-2 lead.
Giron had three breaks on eight chances, with all of them coming in the second set. Auger-aliassime's powerful serve was on display in
the match. He fired 11 aces to Giron's one. The Canadian improved his career record against Giron to 3-0.
Auger-aliassime will face American Mackenzie Mcdonald in the second round.
It will be the first meeting between the players.
Later, second-seeded Stefanos Tsitsipas beat Benjamin Bonzi 7-6 (1), 1-6, 6-3 in the first round.
Tsitsipas, who reached the quarterfinals in Stuttgart last week, had to fight hard to beat the 52nd-ranked Bonzi in one hour, 55 minutes to take his tour-leading tally to 36 wins in 2022.
The Greek star is bidding for his second title of the year and his first on grass.
He next faces Nick Kyrgios, the Australian wild card who defeated Daniel Altmaier 6-3, 7-5.
Sebastian Korda ousted Cristian Garin 6-2, 6-3, but fellow American Maxime Cressy lost 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 to the fifth-seeded Hubert Hurkacz.
Also, Dutch qualifier Tallon Griekspoor battled to a 7-6 (10), 6-3 win over Alex Molcan.
The second- seeded Maria Sakkari eased into the second round of the Berlin Open on Tuesday with a 6-3, 6-2 win over French qualifier Leolia Jeanjean, while Andrea Petkovic delighted the home fans by upsetting Garbine Muguruza.
Petkovic defeated the fifth-seeded Muguruza 7-6 (8), 6-4 for her first win over a top-10 player since beating Petra Kvitova at the U.S. Open in 2019.
The German will next face Aliaksandra Sasnovich of Belarus for a place in the quarterfinals.
Sakkari, who avenged her loss to Jeanjean in their only previous meeting in 2013, will next play Australian qualifier Daria Saville.
Belinda Bencic knocked off German wild card Jule Niemeier 6-4, 5-7, 6-3 for another second-round match against Anna Kalinskaya.
Bencic beat the Russian player in the same round in `s-hertogenbosch, Netherlands last week.