Serena Williams practices on Centre Court Friday as Wimbledon draw is released

WIMBLEDON, England – Serena Williams walked out on Centre Court under a closed retractable roof on Friday afternoon, taking advantage of Wimbledon’s new policy of allowing players to practice there and at No. 1 Court before the tournament begins next week.

Accompanied by coach Eric Hechtman – who has worked with her older sister, Venus, and replaces long-time coach Patrick Moratoglou, now with Simona Halep – and hitting partner Jarmere Jenkins, Williams returned to the site of her last official singles match anywhere, nearly a full year ago at the All England Club.

That ended after less than a set, when Williams slipped on the slick turf and injured her right leg.

Wearing an all-white outfit and visor, Williams followed No. 1-ranked Iga Swiatek into the main stadium and went through about 45 minutes of training, from groundstrokes to volleys and overheads to her best-in-the-game serve.

The courtside “mph” monitors were switched off, so there was no way to tell just how fast her serves were zipping, but the echoes produced by her hard-hit shots reverberated off the arena’s thousands of empty green seats and the white cover overhead as a light rain fell outside.

The scene played out a few hours after the draw determined that Williams will begin her Wimbledon comeback by facing Harmony Tan, a 24-year-old from France who is ranked 113th and owns a 2-6 career record in Grand Slam matches.

Because of her lack of activity over the past 12 months, Williams – who has been No. 1 in the rankings for a total of 319 weeks – is outside the WTA’S top 1,200 and could have ended up anywhere in the field and against any opponent in the first round.

She only returned to the tour this week by playing two doubles matches at a tuneup event in England.

While the 40-year-old American’s track record would merit a seeding, the All England Club adheres strictly to the rankings for seeds.

If Williams gets past Tan, next up could be a match against Sara Sorribes Tormo, who is seeded 32nd but has never been past the third round in 19 past major appearances.

The third round potentially would put Williams against a tougher test: No. 6-seeded Karolina Pliskova, who was the runner-up to Ash Barty last year at Wimbledon and also reached the final of the 2016 U.S. Open – beating Williams in the semifinals there.