Serena Williams took the tennis world by storm when she made a return to the professional circuit during the grass-court season, four years after calling time on her legendary career at the 2022 US Open.
However, the 23-time Grand Slam champion’s comeback journey was disrupted when she sustained a knee injury during her singles return at Wimbledon. After teaming up with sister Venus Williams at the Cincinnati Open, Serena shed light on her emotions surrounding the injury and the road to recovery.
Serena Williams Opens up About ‘Traumatic’ Wimbledon Injury
Serena suffered a 6-3, 6-7(6), 6-3 loss to Maya Joint in her first singles match back at Wimbledon. She later revealed the substantial amount of fluid that was drained from her knee, as she was forced to abandon her doubles campaign with Venus Williams.
After taking some time away from the court, the 23-time Grand Slam champion began focusing on her recovery. She then reunited with Venus for a blockbuster doubles partnership at the Cincinnati Open.
In a highly anticipated first-round clash, the Williams sisters mounted an impressive comeback after losing the opening set, but Marta Kostyuk and Peyton Stearns ultimately clinched a narrow 6-2, 1-6, 10-8 victory.
During their post-match press conference, Serena disclosed that her injury at Wimbledon had been a “traumatic experience” and reflected on her lengthy recovery process, having feared that it had brought her comeback to an end.
“That was a little traumatic experience for me. Took me like two hours to leave the locker room that night. And it’s been a long recovery, which is something I never thought I’d say because I never thought I’d be here sitting talking to you all again. But you know, what doesn’t kill you make you stronger and so it’s good,” she said.
Despite the loss, the 44-year-old embraced the experience of competing in Cincinnati, emphasizing that her goal was not necessarily to win the tournament but simply to enjoy being back on the court.
“For us, I think winning is obviously great, but I think in this position, just having fun, like I didn’t come out here to win this tournament. Obviously, I wanted to do the best that I could do, but I think having fun and also just seeing how we are and how we feel out there and being out there with the fans, too, is just really good just to give them another opportunity to see us play. It was just really cool,” she added.
Venus Williams has received a singles wild card for the US Open, while Serena Williams’ participation remains uncertain. With one singles wild card still up for grabs, the 23-time Grand Slam champion could yet return to the site of her retirement. It also remains to be seen whether the Williams sisters will reunite for doubles at the New York Major.
