Star power: Serena Williams commands spotlight ahead of her Wimbledon return
LONDON (AP) — Iga Swiatek is the defending champion. Aryna Sabalenka is the No. 1 women’s singles player.
Serena Williams is the star, though, at Wimbledon.
The 44-year-old Williams' presence has been emanating throughout SW19 — the famous post code of Wimbledon — as she prepares to play her first singles match at the event in four years Tuesday when she faces No. 53 Maya Joint in the first round.
Mirra Andreeva, who just won the French Open, was basically crossing her fingers when the Wimbledon draw was announced.
“I was watching like this because I don’t think anyone in the draw would have wanted to play against Serena," the smiling Russian teenager said Saturday. “I’m going to speak for myself. I wouldn’t want to play against Serena. I would be just very nervous.”
Williams had been away from the sport since her farewell at the 2022 U.S. Open but she accepted a wild-card entry to play women’s doubles with her sister Venus, who is 46. And then she accepted another to play singles.
Williams’ most-recent appearance at Wimbledon was in 2022 when she lost in the opening round to Harmony Tan, who was then-ranked 115th. The American great walked away from tennis — she described it as “evolving” away — after losing in the third round to Ajla Tomljanovic at Flushing Meadows. Her second daughter was born in 2023.
Williams, a seven-time Wimbledon singles title winner, could meet Swiatek in the third round.
Serena Williams officially returned to tennis earlier this month in a doubles match with 19-year-old Canadian Victoria Mboko at the Queen’s Club grass-court tournament.
“Unexpectedly, before her first match she asked me did I have any motivational quotes I use for myself,” Venus Williams said Saturday. “I told her what I was using at the time. I don’t know if that helped or not. She did win the match.”
The Williams sisters will play their first-round doubles match against Colombia’s Camila Osorio and Solana Sierra of Argentina.
Serena and Venus have won 14 Grand Slam titles together in doubles, including six at Wimbledon. Their first two doubles titles at the All England Club, in 2000 and 2002, came as wild cards.
“For us it was about the titles, we wanted the Grand Slam titles. We just wanted to bring them home,” Venus said. “We did pretty good.”
Novak Djokovic calls Serena Williams' tennis comeback “inspirational” and “epic.”
“That’s what I told her,” Djokovic said Saturday.
“I see her in the gym more than I have, I think, seen her when she was at her prime,” Djokovic, a 24-time major champion, said of Williams, a 23-time major winner in singles. “It tells me that she really wants this to work out the best way possible.”
Djokovic added: “I always admired her career, her journey, her story. Of course, Venus’, as well.”
Coco Gauff, the No. 7 seed at Wimbledon, said Serena and Venus were the “biggest” inspiration on her.
“I played the sport because of them, believed that I could do things because of them. I look up to them a lot,” she said.
Sabalenka added: “It’s amazing what she’s doing. Also it’s Serena Williams, everyone was talking about that. She’s bringing more eyes on tennis. It’s a good thing for tennis. I’m really excited to see her play.”
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