Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
She’s back: Serena returns to the court
Serena Williams’s game was rusty, but the instincts that have made her an enduring champion carried her to a win in her return to the sport she had dominated for so long.
Williams, 40, ended a nearly yearlong absence from tennis Tuesday by teaming with Ons Jabeur of Tunisia to beat Sara Sorribes Tormo of Spain and Marie Bouzkova of the Czech Republic 2-6, 6-3, 13-11 in a doubles match at the Rothesay International tournament in Eastbourne, England.
Their pairing was a surprise and their lack of familiarity was apparent early against the experienced duo of Sorribes
Tormo and Bouzkova, but
Williams surged as the match progressed.
“I caught some fire behind me,” Williams said.
“They played really well in that first set.”
The victory gave her much-needed match experience before she returns to singles play next week as a wild-card entrant at
Wimbledon. Williams has won seven of her 23 Grand Slam singles titles at Wimbledon, earning her most recent triumph there in 2016. “Oh, my God, it was so fun to play with Ons,” Williams said.
Williams served to open the match Tuesday and produced some occasional glimpses of her fearsome old serve. She became more comfortable as the match went on, moving better, going to the net with confidence and mixing in good volleys as she regained her touch. She also was able to shrug off a stumble on the grass in the sixth game of the second set, quashing memories of the mishap that had kept her off the court and derailed her pursuit of Margaret Court’s record of 24 Slam singles titles.
Before Tuesday, Williams hadn’t competed since June 29, when she slipped on the grass during her Wimbledon first-round singles match against Aliaksandra Sasnovich and retired because of an ankle injury. She remains second to Court with 23 Slam singles titles.
Williams didn’t need to play again to cement her legacy as one of the sport’s greatest competitors and a compelling source of inspiration, especially to women of color who might not have previously seen an elite athlete who looks like them. She came back because of the competitiveness that fueled her rise from the courts of Compton to the world stage, a determination that will be tested by opponents who are match-fit and often much younger.
It was never clear whether she’d return because she has many other interests. Besides being the mother of 4½-year-old daughter, Olympia, she has a large endorsement portfolio and heads a venture capital firm called Serena Ventures, which launched an $111-million earlystage fund this year to boost companies founded by women, Black, and Latino entrepreneurs.
She also was an executive producer of the 2021 movie “King Richard,” the story of her father, Richard, and his relentless pursuit of stardom for her and her sister Venus. It was nominated for six Academy Awards and won one, for Will Smith for lead actor as Richard Williams.
Doubts about her return intensified in April when her coach, Patrick Mouratoglu, became Simona Halep’s fulltime coach.
Williams’ decision to play doubles at Eastbourne was smart because it should ease her transition back to singles competition. It came about when her coach, Eric Hechtman, reached out to Jabeur’s coach, Issam Jellali, before the French Open to ask whether Jabeur would be interested in teaming with Williams at Eastbourne. Jabeur, who has risen to a career-best No. 3 in the world, kept their agreement a secret until a few days ago.
Williams ranked No. 8 in the world at Wimbledon last year. She’s No. 1,204 as she returns to a drastically changed landscape on the women’s tour.
Ash Barty, ranked No. 1 when she won Wimbledon last year, retired after she won this year’s Australian Open and is no longer ranked. Then-No. 2 Naomi Osaka has dropped to No. 42 after skipping several tournaments to tend to her mental health and after being hampered by a sore Achilles tendon. Halep, No. 3 a year ago, was No. 19 when the latest rankings were released Monday.
Only two women who ranked in the top 10 entering Wimbledon last year remain there: Iga Swiatek of Poland, who was then No. 9 and has soared to No. 1 on the strength of a 35-match winning streak, and Aryna Sabalenka, who was No. 4 a year ago and is No. 6 now.
Williams hasn’t won a Slam singles title since the Australian Open in 2017, when she was in the early stages of her pregnancy. In 2018 and 2019 she reached the final at Wimbledon and the U.S. Open but lost all four times in straight sets.
Still, it’s never wise to count her out.
It would have been unbearably sad if her tearful exit from Wimbledon last year had been the last sight of her in a competitive match. Her comeback is a gift for her, for tennis, and for all who appreciate the power of one woman to not only win trophies but to change the world.