It was all cheers at Eastbourne, as Serena Williams made her entry from the tunnel to the Center Court with a blaring sound system playing. She gave a wry smile and a wave as everyone’s eyes were locked on everything she was doing as she came into the court.
Serena Williams was finally in the court after a long ‘break’ from playing. And when her first-round doubles coordinate with Ons Jabeur against Sara Sorribes Tormo and Marie Bouzkova started off, every mobile phone camera was pointed toward her as she opened the match.
The reception Serena received from the crowd was unbelievable. As ostensibly the best tennis player ever and a woman with 23 significant titles in her possession, there was such a lot expected from her as to what the 40-year old planned to provide for the crowd on the court.
She was playing in her most memorable match in almost a year, and she had skirted her practice session on site on Monday.
Be that as it may, on Tuesday June 21, Williams gave a few responses, and, surprisingly, subdued a significant part of the uncertainty with an incredible rebound win, 2-6, 6-3, 13-11.
“I caught some fire behind me,” Williams said on court after the win about the second-set turnaround. “I needed that.”
In the early minutes, Williams showed a few indications of rust, but step by step, she returned to winning ways. Sorribes Tormo and Bouzkova seized and hurried out to an early lead.
While there were a few moments of vintage Serena greatness, including a dominant overhead smash — met, of course, by raucous applause — it looked for most of the first set as if Williams and Jabeur’s eagerly anticipated run in Eastbourne would be a short one.
There’s that Serena smash 😎@serenawilliams | #RothesayInternational pic.twitter.com/ecuABThuCd
— wta (@WTA) June 21, 2022
But neither Williams, nor Jabeur were ready to go down without a fight. Williams’ movement got sharper, her ball-striking became crisper and her confidence (and trademark intensity) to surge with every won point. By the end of the second set, Williams was everywhere on court and running down each ball as if the match depended on it.
With the ROOOOAR 🗣@serenawilliams & @Ons_Jabeur claw their way back to take the second set 6-3!#RothesayInternational pic.twitter.com/3s8JBgnCj8
— wta (@WTA) June 21, 2022
Williams hadn’t played doubles since Auckland in 2020, and last played a competitive match at Wimbledon in 2021. She had arrived at the All England Club last summer as a favorite but suffered a devastating hamstring tear in the opening set of her first match and was forced to tearfully retire. Her once-brimming-with-promise run at the tournament and quest for her elusive 24th Grand Slam title lasted just 34 minutes.
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Serena Williams made announcements about her withdrawal ahead of the US Open and the Australian Open, refering to her ill health as the reason. The French Open went back and forth, and she didn’t express anything about it. At the point when the underlying Wimbledon entry list was released she was mysteriously gone. Rumours grew about her retirement.
“If I ever say farewell, I wouldn’t tell anyone,” she had said in Melbourne in 2021 and it seemed as if perhaps that’s exactly what happened.
But it turns out she wasn’t done just yet. Last week, it was revealed she had received a wild card to play at Wimbledon and would be playing in the doubles draw at Eastbourne.
