A year after her retirement in the first round of Wimbledon, tennis star Serena Williams will return to competition at the London tournament (June 27-July 10).
The 23-time Grand Slam champion announced the news Tuesday, June 14, in a message posted on Instagram full of mystery and hope.
"SW (for Serena Williams, editor's note) and SW 19 (the postcode of Wimbledon). It's a date! See you there", wrote the former world N.1.
See this post on Instagram
A post shared by Serena Williams (@serenawilliams)
Without his usual trainer
The 40-year-old American, who won the title seven times on the London turf, fell to 1,208th place in the world.
She was therefore unable to use her protected classification (possibility offered to players dismissed from the circuit for long injuries) and could only count on one of the wild cards (invitations distributed by the organizers) to integrate the table.
The youngest of the Williams sisters will be playing her 21st Wimbledon in singles, having lifted the trophy in 2002, 2003, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2015 and 2016. She had again reached the final in 2018 and 2019 without ever managing to win this 24th major title which would have allowed him to equal Margaret Court's record.
This year, in addition to the unknown linked to her lack of play, she will be deprived of the support of her coach, Patrick Mouratoglou, who is now Simona Halep's coach.
The French coach announced on April 7 that Serena Williams, whom he had accompanied since 2012 (with during this period 10 additional Grand Slam tournaments on the American record) but who had not played in competition for months, had left an "open door" for him to work with someone else "at least in the short term".
Without her star coach, without benchmarks, with a physical preparation that will probably not be optimal, the return of Serena Williams to Wimbledon does not necessarily look triumphant.
For any preparation, she will redo her very first steps in competition next week on the grass of Eastbourne, where she will play the double associated with the Tunisian Ons Jabeur (4th in the world in singles).
"I am very happy to return (to Eastbourne) to England and to be back on grass, a surface which has been so successful for me during my career", recalls the American in a press release from the English Tennis Federation (LTA ).
His 73rd and last title dates back to January 12, 2020 in Auckland.
It was also his last final.
With AFP
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