It was as if Serena Williams had never been away as she held court inside Wimbledon’s packed press auditorium, with the 44-year-old American explaining exactly how she concluded she would have to be ‘nuts’ to reject the invitation to return.
Williams wrestled with the wildcard dangled in front of her by the All England Club. The seven-time champion of Wimbledon left it as late as possible to decide, only informing those inside SW19 that she would enter their singles draw as the deadline approached.
She was not sure as she accepted the invite – and says she is still not sure she should have said yes now – but the offer was too good to turn down.
‘I thought, “It’s not every day that Wimbledon holds a wildcard for someone”,’ Williams said ahead of her first singles match since retiring after the 2022 US Open. ‘I happened to be one of those people. I thought I should really take this opportunity.
‘Who knows if I’ll ever make it here again. This could be it. I was like, “What’s wrong with me? Serena, what are you thinking? Are you nuts? Like, you really should do this.”
‘People live to be an athlete. I have this great opportunity to showcase what I do, what I do best, I suppose. When I revolved or evolved, I had never thought I’d come back.’
Serena Williams says she would have been ‘mad’ to turn down Wimbledon’s wildcard offer
Wimbledon is all the better for Williams’ presence. This mother of two has an aura, her name being one that transcends tennis, and the SW19 schedulers have understandably handed her headline billing on Tuesday when she faces Maya Joint in her opener in the third match on Centre Court.
‘I wasn’t sure up until then,’ Williams said on waiting until the last moment to accept Wimbledon’s wildcard offer. ‘Honestly, I’m still not even sure, but we’ll see.’
She has dabbled in some doubles action to get a feel for the grass surface again, competing at Queen’s and then Berlin. She will play alongside her sister, Venus, 46, in the doubles here, too. But returning to the singles competition is quite the escalation in her comeback.
‘My feelings will be different,’ Williams said. ‘In general my expectations are definitely different for the first time in my career. I feel like I’m really going to enjoy being out there.
‘I expect to be nervous. I was also nervous in every single match I ever played in my life. That showed the passion and the love and the care. I’ve always had some nerves. But then I just dust ’em off, then I move on.
‘For me, the ride has always been uphill. There’s only been a few times it’s been downhill. Those are fun times. If you want to do something good or great, you have to always push yourself more. Even if it’s easy, you should take the uphill route.’
Williams had already won seven Grand Slam singles titles by the time Joint, a 20-year-old Australian ranked 87th in the world, was born. She is an idol for Joint, who has leaned a little on her fellow Aussie, Ajla Tomljanovic.
It was Tomljanovic who beat Williams in the American’s ‘last’ match at the 2022 US Open before announcing the retirement which she has now reversed. Tomljanovic has told Joint to remember Williams will be just as nervous as she is.
Williams can accept why Joint and others might have wished to avoid her as a first-round opponent, saying: ‘It’s like the big four coming back. I mean, Novak (Djokovic) is still here, but no one would want to play them in their first round. No one knows how my game may or may not have evolved, what to expect. They don’t know much.’
Williams has not missed the anti-doping whereabouts system which comes with competing in tennis, describing having to tell officials her location as ‘gruelling’, ‘unprofessional’ and ‘unreasonable’. But when she steps on Centre Court, all that hassle might feel worth it for this 23-time Grand Slam champion now gracing the grass of Wimbledon again.
