Serena Williams on Tuesday said she feared her storied career was over after a leg injury at last year’s Wimbledon forced her off tour for a year and saw her ranking plummet to no. 1,204 in the world.
“Did I ever doubt I would return? Absolutely, for sure. I would be dishonest if I said it wasn’t [on my mind] and now my body feels great,” Williams said.
The 40-year-old made a winning comeback when she teamed up with Ons Jabeur to beat Sara Sorribes Tormo and Marie Bouzkova 2-6, 6-3, 13-11 in the Eastbourne International doubles on Tuesday.
Photo: AFP
The pair were yesterday to face Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Japan’s Shuko Aoyama.
Williams, a 23-time Grand Slam singles champion, was playing for the first time since a tearful exit at Wimbledon last year.
Before she made the surprise announcement of her return last week, rumors of retirement had swirled around her for several months.
However, with Wimbledon starting on June 27, she finally resumed her career, playing with Jabeur at the Wimbledon warm-up event.
Williams and Tunisia’s Jabeur, who is third in the WTA singles rankings, saw off Spain’s Sorribes Tormo and Bouzkova of the Czech Republic in the last-16 tie.
Although Williams was far from her vintage best, she is likely to be encouraged by her first outing in 12 months.
However, she refused to be drawn on how long she intends to play, despite Margaret Court’s record of 24 Slams being tantalizingly within reach.
“You know what I am literally taking it one day at a time. I really took my time with my hamstring injury so I am not making a ton of decisions after this,” Williams said. “I did a lot of non-training in the beginning obviously, and after I couldn’t play New York I went cold turkey of not working out.”
“It felt good, but I always try to stay semi-fit, because you never know when you are going to play Wimbledon,” she said. “I love tennis and I love playing, otherwise I wouldn’t be here, but I also love what I do off the court.”
Williams has been given a wildcard to play in the singles at Wimbledon, where she is a seven-time champion.
In another of Tuesday’s women’s doubles matches, Taiwan’s Latisha Chan and Australia’s Sam Stosur were beaten 6-2, 1-6, 10-12 by China’s Xu Yifan and Yang Zhaoxuan.
In the women’s singles, last year’s Wimbledon runner-up Karolina Pliskova lost 6-1, 4-6, 4-6 against Britain’s Katie Boulter, while Spanish top seed Paula Badosa was beaten 6-4, 6-3 by British wild-card Jodie Burrage.
In the men’s singles, Ryan Peniston also enjoyed an impressive victory on his home turf, beating French Open quarter-finalist Holger Rune 4-6, 7-6, (7/5), 6-1.
Additional reporting by staff writer
The New Taipei Kings claimed the inaugural Taiwan Professional Basketball League (TPBL) championship on Sunday, defeating the Kaohsiung FamilyMart Aquas 108-89 in the final. Playing at home, the Kings pulled ahead with Jeremy Lin’s (林書豪) clutch three-pointers, securing their victory over the Aquas in the TPBL final. The Kings came out strong in the first quarter, dominating to build a 35-18 lead. By halftime, they had stretched their advantage to 61-38. In the third quarter, the Aquas narrowed the deficit to 12 points, but Lin stepped up, sinking several tough three- pointers to extend the lead. In the final quarter, the Kings pushed the
In an unlikely Ethiopian outpost of one the most French of pastimes, four men are leaning over their petanque balls, arguing over who is winning. Petanque, the bowling game also known as boules, is more readily associated with French village squares where locals launch metal balls at a jack while enjoying an afternoon drink, but for decades, it has also been a beloved pastime for members of a club near the iconic Meskel Square in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa. It was founded in the early 20th century to cater to French railway workers, who built a line connecting Addis Ababa
Taiwanese women’s doubles star Hsieh Su-wei and Australian teenager Maya Joint on Tuesday eased into the Eastbourne Open quarter-finals in England as Hsieh prepares for the Wimbledon Championships next week. Four-time Wimbledon women’s doubles champion Hsieh and 19-year-old Joint fired two aces and converted five of eight break points to defeat Japan’s Shuko Aoyama and Poland’s Katarzyna Piter 6-3, 6-3 in 58 minutes on the grass court. Hsieh and Joint are today to face fourth seeds Barbora Krejcikova of the Czech Republic and Latvia’s Jelena Ostapenko, who advanced on Monday with a 6-4, 6-3 victory over Quinn Gleason of the US and
BEAT THE HEAT: A brutal heat wave in the US has made cooling breaks standard. Dortmund’s coach said the weather could shape the destiny of the tournament Chelsea on Tuesday beat Esperance of Tunisia 3-0 to set up a FIFA Club World Cup last-16 tie against SL Benfica, who earlier defeated Bayern Munich 1-0, as furnace-link heat and the threat of thunder and lightning wreak havoc at the tournament. Elsewhere, minnows Auckland City claimed a memorable draw against Boca Juniors, while Los Angeles bowed out of the tournament with a stalemate against Flamengo. In Charlotte, Andreas Schjelderup scored the only goal for Benfica in their Group C clash with Bayern in front of 33,287 fans, finishing first-time from a cutback by his fellow Norwegian Fredrik Aursnes in the 13th