Under the late afternoon sun, as the breeze swirled in west London, Serena Williams returned to a competitive tennis court. By the time the shadow of the prestigious Queen’s Club had crept across the grass, covering the lines, she had secured her first victory in four years. Alongside doubles partner Victoria Mboko, the Canadian teenager 25 years her junior, the 44-year-old Williams defeated the third seeds Nicole Melichar-Martinez and Erin Routliffe, 7-6 6-2.
With it, a remarkable tennis comeback was kicked, gently, into motion. The 23-time grand slam champion had not competed since the 2022 US Open, the tournament that followed her announcement of “evolving” away from the sport. When she returned to the glare of the competition, with nowhere to hide; there were lots of errors, missed forehands, shanked overheads, and understandable rust. Williams had fun, and even admitted to some nerves, but gave herself a grade of “C minus”, with plenty of room for improvement.
That, though, was not the only aim. For the first time, Williams could play in front of both of her daughters, eight-year-old Olympia and two-year-old Adira. If her youngest didn’t appear overly bothered, instead asking to be taken to a “toy store” in nearby Kensington, then perhaps sticking around on the grass for a little longer, until Wimbledon, will be sufficient motivation. If she gets a partner as good as Mboko, then competing for another grand slam title is not out of the question.
Even though this was largely a warm-up, there were some moments here where Williams displayed that her abilities have not all faded. Her serve brought effortless power, at one stage ramping up to 120mph, while closing the match out behind back-to-back aces and another unreturned serve was an additional highlight.
The shot of the match was also played by Williams: instinctively reading a putaway volley to play a leaping backhand winner down the line. Mboko, who has idolised Williams her whole life, was impressed. “I thought she was moving great,” the world No 9 said. “There was that one shot you hit, remember, you were on the run, on the backhand, and I was like, Oh, my gosh, she’s got it.”
“It was so fun,” Williams said on court. “You can do anything at any age.”
A comeback to tennis had been plotted for months, ever since Williams reentered the sport’s anti-doping pool last November. There had been reports of Williams hitting on the practice court and stunning her partners with the power behind those shots, but moving around the court – even with a doubles partner to help cover the ground – was always going to be a greater challenge and is the area she is currently working on the most. Mboko, the world No 9 in singles who commands a striking backhand, was the best performer on a court that included the greatest of all time and two doubles specialists.
“It’s funny, because there were moments in the match where we were like, oh, this isn’t going great,” Mboko said. “But I understand. It feels like it was far from our level. I think it’s great knowing that you have so much room for improvement and have the motivation to get better.” Melichar-Martinez and Routliffe may have been the third seeds, with 31 doubles titles between them, but the pair from the United States and New Zealand were also teaming up for the first time, and it showed.
“I think I was nervous, but I didn’t really think about it,” Williams said. “I didn’t really think about being nervous. I just thought about having fun, which I did today.” Williams and Mboko will play Canada’s Leylah Fernandez and Germany’s Laura Seigemund in the second round. As it happens, Fernandez partnered Venus Williams as the 45-year-old made the US Open doubles quarter-finals last season.
And a return to Wimbledon, likely entering the doubles as another wildcard, appears to be a formality, even if Williams said she is yet to make a decision. “It’s just a day at a time,” she maintained. “I still have a little time to decide, and they have been great about giving me that space and time to decide.”
But it beats sitting around at home. “I had nothing better to do!” Williams laughed on court. “I thought, why not? I never got to play here, it was always just the men. It feels very special to play somewhere so iconic. It’s very cool.”
