Williams No. 1, despite not playing since January

Serena Williams is briefly back at No. 1 in the WTA rankings, despite not playing a match since January and with plans to take the rest of 2017 off because she is expecting a baby.

Serena Williams is briefly back at No. 1 in the WTA rankings, despite not playing a match since January — and with plans to take the rest of 2017 off because she is expecting a baby.

Thanks to a calendar quirk, Williams moved up one spot Monday from No. 2, swapping places with Angelique Kerber.

The return to No. 1 , which gives the 35-year-old American her 317th week there, comes less than a week after Williams let the world know via Snapchat that she is pregnant. The baby is due in the fall, and spokeswoman Kelly Bush Novak said Williams will take off the rest of this season and intends to return to the tour next year.

Williams confirmed that timetable on Instagram on Monday, when she posted a photo of herself and a note addressed to “My Dearest Baby.”

“You gave me the strength I didn’t know I had. You taught me the true meaning of serenity and peace. I can’t wait to meet you. I can’t wait for you to join the players box next year. But most importantly, I am so happy to share being number one in the world with you .... once again today,” the post reads.

Williams closed it with: “from the world’s oldest number one to the world’s youngest number one. — Your Mommy”

The reason Williams was able to supplant Kerber for at least a week — and possibly more — is that the women’s clay-court tournament that is being played this week in Stuttgart, Germany, was played a week earlier a year ago. So Kerber, a twotime defending champion at that event, lost the rankings points she earned there and can’t replace them until the end of this year’s tournament. Kerber can reclaim the top ranking by winning two matches in Stuttgart.

Nastase comments

Williams also spoke out in response to suspended Fed Cup captain Ilie Nastase’s comments speculating about the skin color of the baby the pregnant Williams is expecting.

The 23-time major champion wrote on Instagram on Monday: “It disappoints me to know we live in a society where people like Ilie Nastase can make such racist comments towards myself and (my) unborn child.”

Williams is black. Her fiance, Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian, is white.

Williams also referred to Nastase’s “sexist comments against my peers” a reference to his verbal abuse directed at British player Johanna Konta, British captain Anne Keothavong and the chair umpire during Fed Cup matches over the weekend. He was ejected from the Romania vs. Britain contest and provisionally suspended by the International Tennis Federation.

Williams said: “I humbly thank the ITF for any consideration given to all the facts in this case. They will have my full support.”

Nastase, for his part, was unrepentant, saying that he didn’t believe his remarks at a news conference Friday about Williams’ baby were racist.

“I want to know what word I used is racist?” he said Monday in a telephone interview with The Associated Press from Budapest, Hungary. He added that he is a friend of Williams.

Sharapova’s return

Even with eight of the world’s top 10 players in the main draw, an unranked rival is grabbing all the headlines at an indoor clay-court event in Stuttgart, Germany, this week.

Handed a much-debated wild card, Maria Sharapova will return to competitive tennis at the Porsche Grand Prix on Wednesday evening, less than 24 hours after the end of her 15-month suspension for a doping offense.

The five-time Grand Slam champion and former No. 1 will have to rebuild her ranking from scratch, as only tournament results over the preceding 12 months count toward the WTA rankings.

The Stuttgart organizers’ announcement in January sparked a debate which has hardly cooled, three months later. Caroline Wozniacki said “It’s disrespectful to other players.” Dominika Cibulkova, Agnieszka Radwanska and Andy Murray also spoke out publicly against wild cards for players who return from doping bans.