Exactly one year after her last appearance, Serena Williams returned to Wimbledon at the age of almost 41 – with virtually no competition practice. How dangerous can the American still be to the competition?
The few eyewitnesses saw a real world premiere on Friday afternoon on the still closed Center Court. Eric Hechtmann, Serena Williams’ new part-time coach, placed training cones right at the start of the session to serve as target points for his player.
This cannot have happened before in the 100-year history of the event, as those responsible for the event have only been guaranteeing selected players practice sessions in advance on the largest squares of the facility since this year, in order to get used to the slippery conditions.
Serena Williams disappeared from the sports stage
The circumstances surrounding this short-term comeback of the most successful player of the past 25 years are special anyway. Serena Williams has 73 WTA titles to his name, has won exactly 23 Grand Slam tournaments since her debut victory at the US Open in the last millennium in 1999 and earned around 94 million US dollars from prize money alone. The superstar still generates a multiple of this contribution as an advertising figure and businesswoman. Only Naomi Osaka replaced her as the highest-earning athlete in the world.
She played her last professional singles on London’s Center Court a year ago when she tore a thigh muscle. In combination with ongoing problems with the patella tendon, she also had to cancel the start at the US Open.
Williams last only business woman
During the twelve-month hiatus, she raised around $111 million for her “Serena Ventures” fund, which is intended to give young, diverse entrepreneurs start-up help, invested in the now active women’s soccer club Angel City in Los Angeles and was even made an unsuccessful offer as an investor linked to Chelsea.
Only before the French Open, which started on May 23, did she make the decision to return to Wimbledon, Williams confessed at her first public appearance in the packed press conference room on Saturday afternoon.
Little time for a comeback that meets the demands of a world athlete and so her team of five converted the sacred turf at the most prestigious event in the tennis world into a kind of training ground with the flair of a club facility.
Training is also necessary, because even before her break, Williams was no longer above all sporting doubts. Since her last major win at the Australian Open in 2017, she has not been able to equal the Grand Slam record (24) of Australian Margaret Court, who is controversial because of politically questionable statements – the American lost four major finals, in Wimbledon 2018 against Angelique Kerber (2019 against Simona Halep).
Training session with Ons Jabeur
On the center court, Williams tried to play quite atypical lobs and slice shots close to the selected areas at the beginning. After a few minutes, the help was collected and their official hitting partner Jarmere Jenkins started work. The American did two sessions of almost one hour each on Friday, followed by another one on training ground eight at Aorangi Park on Saturday. Observers were stopped about 50 meters beforehand, despite confirmation of access – it should be a secret training session, please, because she then completed the second unit in front of a few onlookers with Ons Jabeur.
She had won two matches with the Tunisian world-class player this week in the recently reported doubles competition in Eastbourne. Then Jabeur withdrew due to injury. In view of their liveliness in training on Saturday, this was probably more of a tactical measure to give both players more training time in London.
Power on serve and return still weapons
Williams’ serve and return still looked strong in the visible units. With more intensive footwork exercises with alternating strokes from forehand to backhand cross, their error rate increased rapidly and the fast sidesteps were replaced by overly large crossed steps. Her enduring power and the attention given to opponents when they meet at the biggest tournament of the year should help Williams stay competitive.
On Tuesday, Williams opens her Wimbledon tournament against France’s Harmony Tan (113th in the world). Karolina Pliskova could wait in round three. The Czech curbed the euphoria: “Matches are different than training. It’s going to be super difficult for her no matter what kind of player she is.”
Williams: “I haven’t resigned yet”
“I haven’t resigned yet”Williams explained in her press round. “I just had to recover physically and mentally”, she said, generally choosing her words carefully. She avoided questions about the war and the Wimbledon ban on Russian and Belarusian players, as well as about the overturned right to abortion in the USA.
She also did not allow herself to be carried away by a statement about sporting goals when asked by a sports show: “You know the answer to that”. A little later she added: “I have high goals, but I won’t say more about that.” Her coach Hechtmann was more explicit in the New York Times: “She’s playing Wimbledon for a reason. Like everyone who starts this tournament, our goal is to win the event.”
Is it your last appearance at Wimbledon? Williams said she honestly doesn’t know if that’s the case. One thing is certain: in 2023 she would be almost 42 years old.