Serena Williams rolled back the years at Queen’s with a winning performance on her comeback to tennis after 1,375 days away from the sport.
Fans with the hottest ticket in town packed out the Andy Murray Arena on Tuesday evening to watch one of the greatest players of all time return to action.
Playing doubles alongside Canadian teenager Victoria Mboko, the 44-year-old American didn’t look a touch out of place as the pair won 7-6 (7-2) 6-2 to upset third seeds Erin Routliffe and Nicole Melichar-Martinez.
“It was so fun,” she said in her post-match interview. “I had so much fun playing with Victoria. She was really able to hold up the team and play big on the big points. I could rely on her. We have never played together but it felt so natural.”
Asked why she came back, she added: “I had nothing better to do, I got tired of sitting at home. My kids are out of school for the summer, so why not?
“I never got to play here, it was always just the men. It feels really special to play somewhere so iconic.”
Williams “evolved away” from tennis in 2022 after winning 23 Grand Slam singles titles in her 27-year career.
Excitement about a possible return grew last year when her name appeared on the list of players registered for the drug-testing pool, and again when it was put on the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) reinstatements list in February.
But her comeback was only confirmed last week when it was announced she would be joining 19-year-old Mboko for doubles at London’s iconic Queen’s Club.
A whirlwind nine days followed, with Williams saying she “had nothing to prove” and that the main motivation was the prospect of her daughters seeing her play.
Eight-year-old Olympia and Adira, who was born in 2023, watched on from the stands with their father and cheered on as their mother rediscovered some of the shots that has made her a legend of the sport.
Williams’ first strike of the ball left fans wondering if the all-time great had lost her touch as she planted a volley from close range into the net.
But those doubts had been quashed 92 minutes later as her serve – once considered her greatest weapon – wrapped up her first match win since the 2022 US Open.
