Serena primed to return

Serena Williams will be “ready to go” when she returns to action this week in the United States’ Fed Cup first-round tie against the Netherlands, captain Kathy Rinaldi said on Wednesday.

Williams has not played a WTA tournament since she won the 2017 Australian Open and skipped this year’s opening Grand Slam due to concerns about her fitness four months after giving birth to her first child.

Rinaldi said she expects Williams, who was named to the US squad that will compete on an indoor hard court in Asheville, North Carolina, to make a smooth transition in her return to competitive tennis.

“Serena’s just coming back. She played an exhibition in (December) and it’s incredible,” Rinaldi told a media conference at US Cellular Center in Asheville.

“It’s a quick turnaround after having her first child. She’s very professional and she has a lot of pride for playing for her country. She’ll be ready to go.”

Williams, 36, has played just once since winning her Openera record 23rd Grand Slam singles title in Melbourne, losing to French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko in an exhibition match in Abu Dhabi in December.

For Williams, this weekend will mark the first time she has competed in a Fed Cup tie since April 2015. She owns a 13-0 singles record and 3-1 doubles record in Fed Cup competition.

She heads a team made up of older sister Venus, world No 17 CoCo Vandeweghe and world No 62 Lauren Davis.

The US beat Belarus last year for a record-extending 18th Fed Cup title, its first in 17 years.

The Netherlands squad is comprised of world No 108 Richel Hogenkamp, Arantxa Rus (No 124), Lesley Kerkhove (No 165) and Demi Schuurs, who is ranked No 32 in doubles.