She’s Back: Serena Williams Heading To Wimbledon, Pre-Event In Return To Action
Tuesday, June 14, 2022 at 10:17PM By Barry Janoff
UPDATED June 21, 2022: Tennis Channel had live coverage of Serena Williams’ first match since 2021 Wimbledon today (June 21) at the Rothesay International Eastbourne. Her partner was world No. 3 singles player Ons Jabeur.
Williams and Jabeur defeated Sara Sorribes Tormo and Marie Bouzkova in three sets.
Tennis Channel will continue to carry their matches live as they advance through the tournament.
Williams said she plans to use the Rothesay International Eastbourne as a warm-up for 2022 Wimbledon, where she has been granted a wild card entry.
"It was great out there and so fun to play with Ons — we had a lot of fun,” Williams said after the match.
“Our opponents played amazing and we were happy to stay in there.”
June 14, 2022: After nearly a year off the Hologic WTA Tour due to injury and rehabilitation, Serena Williams said today she plans to return to the courts at Wimbledon 2022 in London following a warm-up tournament in Eastbourne.
Williams was granted a Wild Card spot at Wimbledon by the All England Lawn Tennis Club, the news of which came concurrently with Williams posting to her social media platforms, "SW and SW19. It's a date. 2022 See you there."
It came with the hash tag, #RenasArmy, and a photo of Williams standing on grass wearing white Nike tennis shoes.
“SW” is for Serena Williams, “SW19” is the postal code in London for AELTC.
Wimbledon is scheduled for June 27-July 10 (ESPN, Tennis Channel).
Wimbledon organizers, in response, posted to social media a photo of Williams with the text, “The stage awaits.
“Our 7-time champion Serena Williams will return to Wimbledon as a wild card this summer for her 21st appearance” along with and a list of her Wimbledon victories: 2002, 2003, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2015, 2016.
Williams was the runner-up there in 2018 and 2019. The tournament was canceled in 2020 due to COVID-19.
Along with her Wimbledon post, the 23-time Grand Slam champion shared plans via the Lawn Tennis Assn. to pair with Ons Jabeur in doubles at the Rothesay International in Eastbourne, a WTA 500 grass-court event with main-draw play June 19.-25 (Tennis Channel).
Williams herself confirmed the move, posting to social media, “Eastbourne has a unique charm that you don’t see anywhere else on tour and I’m looking forward to playing in front of the fans again.”
Williams — who was ranked No. 1 in the world between 2013-2015 as well as parts of 2016-2017 — is currently No. 1,208 in the WTA rankings.
“On behalf of everyone at the LTA we are delighted to warmly welcome Serena back to the Rothesay International and the fabulous setting of Devonshire Park, Eastbourne,” Tournament director Gavin Fletcher said via the organization.
“This year’s line-up is proving absolutely stellar, where having Serena here will be the icing on the cake and personally, I’m sure I speak for many in that we can’t wait to see her play again.”
In 2021, Williams was playing Belarus-born Aliaksandra Sasnovich when she injured her right leg during the first set of their first-round match.
Williams was among six women given a spot in the Wimbledon singles draw, along with five British players: Katie Boulter, Jodie Burrage, Sonay Kartal, Yuriko Miyazaki and Katie Swan.
Stan Wawrinka was among seven men’s players given Wild Card status.
AELTC last week unveiled tournament record prizes for the 2022 event, $50.5 million in total player prize money.
The men’s and women’s singles winners will each earn $2.5 million..
Wimbledon has also been the center court of controversy, banning players from Russia and Belarus, including current world No. 1 Daniil Medvedev and Victoria Azarenka, due to the on-going Russia armed invasion of Ukraine.
Sasnovich, currently ranked No. 38, also won’t be able to play at Wimbledon due to the ban.
The ATP Tour and Hologic WTA Tour subsequently said they would not award ranking points for the Grand Slam tournament.
The U.S. Open said today players from Russian and Belarus would be able to compete, but without flags, symbols or other identification from those nations, similar to Roland Garros earlier this year.
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Wimbledon Bans Russia, Belarus Players From Grand Slam
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