In return, Serena falls in doubles
The first step in Serena Williams’ comeback underscored how far she has to go after spending more than a year away from tennis. In Williams’ first competition since giving birth five months ago, she and sister Venus lost, 6-2, 6-3, to Lesley Kerkhove and Demi Schuurs of the Netherlands in a Fed Cup quarterfinal doubles match in Ashville, N.C., Sunday.
“I honestly feel better than I thought I was going to feel,” she said. The U.S. already had clinched a victory in the best-offive event thanks to a pair of singles victories by Venus Williams, so this doubles loss merely narrowed the final score to 3-1.
The U.S. advanced to a World Group semifinal April 21-22 at France, which defeated Belgium, 3-2, this weekend.
Serena Williams hadn’t played competitive tennis since winning the 2017 Australian Open while pregnant for her 23rd career Grand Slam singles title. Her only match since had come in a Dec. 30 exhibition.
Serena Williams’ daughter, Alexis Olympia Ohanian Jr., was wearing a headband with red and white stripes plus a blue coat Sunday as her father, Reddit cofounder Alexis Ohanian, held her just behind the players’ bench.
“Honestly, I feel like we were all a team out here, us playing and everyone in the stands,” Williams said in her postmatch interview in front of the sellout crowd of more than 5,000 at U.S. Cellular Center. “It was all of us together, and it felt awesome.”
POTTER WINS AT PEBBLE BEACH
Ted Potter Jr. outplayed the world’s No.1 player and held off everyone else to win the AT&T Pebble Beach (Calif.) National for his first victory since a broken ankle nearly ended his career. Potter holed a chip from behind the green for birdie on the par-3 seventh hole to build a two-shot lead over Dustin Johnson, and he didn’t make another mistake the rest of a breezy afternoon at Pebble Beach. He closed with a 3-under 69 for a three-shot victory over Johnson, Phil Mickelson, Jason Day and Chez Reavie.
He stepped off a curb in Canada in August 2014 and broke his ankle, keeping him out of golf for two years and then back to the minor leagues a year ago. Potter’s only other victory was at The Greenbrier Classic in 2012.
Johnson lost a share of the lead with a tee shot that sailed over the cliff on the par-3 fifth and never caught up.
JIM GARRETT DIES
Jim Garrett, the father of Cowboys coach Jason Garrett and a longtime scout for the club, has died. He was 87. The team said Jim Garrett, a former Giants assistant and Columbia coach, died Friday night in Dallas with his wife, Jane, and his eight children by his side.
The elder Garrett first joined the Cowboys as a scout in 1968 and spent 36 of the next 38 years coaching or scouting in the NFL, including the last 17 of his career with the Cowboys.