As we move from the red dirt of Paris to the green green grass of home, tennis is not at its highest ebb. A blistering first week of drama at Roland Garros tailed off a little, ending with two finals which, while significant, lacked true star power. The absence of the irrepressible Carlos Alcaraz continues to be felt, and from a British point of view there is uncertainty over the readiness of Emma Raducanu and, especially, Jack Draper for the grass season.
Upon this grey canvas, the reawakening of Serena Williams is like a burst of technicolour.
The 44-year-old has been planning this for some time. In December her name appeared on the doping testing pool, a prerequisite for a return to tennis. But this would not do at all; this was a distinctly prosaic way for her comeback to be signalled. And so she dissimulated, tweeting: ‘I’m NOT coming back. This wildfire is crazy.’
Pull the other one, Serena. No one would agree to doping testing for the hell of it; no one would sign up to have a stranger enter their house and watch them pee without good reason.
But Serena had to regain control of the narrative. She has always seen tennis as her stage on which to perform, as a drama to be bent to her will. Last week it was official, with the HSBC Championships chosen for the relaunch.
And so to the Queen’s Club, where Serena was in full diva mode on Sunday, keeping the world’s media on a string as her pre-tournament press conference was delayed by over three hours. As maddening as it is for those who cover this sport, Serena is like Gandalf: she is never late, nor is she early. She arrives precisely when she means to.
Serena Williams may have been three hours late to her comeback press conference but she has always been more than worth the wait
Nearly four years after her last match, the 23-time Grand Slam champion will partner up with Victoria Mboko for doubles at Queen’s
It would be easy to see all this as a vanity project; as a former star making a last desperate grasp for the limelight. That would be to take too seriously what promises to be tremendous fun.
Serena gets to feel the competitive urge again and, as she said at Queen’s Club, her daughters get to watch mum: Adira for the first time, Olympia, eight, with more understanding of what it’s all about.
That reason was a touchingly relatable one for an athlete who can give the impression of operating on a different plane to mere mortals.
And Victoria Mboko, 19, gets the opportunity of a lifetime to play with her idol. The Canadian may have to do the bulk of the running, though, and that brings us to the intriguing question of how Serena will play.
They have a tough draw against Nicole Melichar-Martinez and Erin Routliffe, doubles specialists with three Slams between them, although this is their first event together.
Serena’s ball striking is unlikely to have lost much of its venom, and in doubles her lethal serves and returns will go a long way. Her movement is of course likely to be the biggest issue having been out for three years, but the youth of Mboko can partially compensate.
But this isn’t really about forehands and backhands; what Williams has always understood as well as anyone is that tennis is as much about the show as the sport.
And no one knows how to put on a show like Serena. Buckle up for the Return of the Queen.
