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At the most tense moment of Serena Williams’s comeback to professional tennis, the score uncertainly balanced at 5-5, 30-30, an audience member could no longer hold her tongue. Her voice booming across all corners of Andy Murray Arena, she shouted: “Come on Serena, come on Victoria. You got it!” From the stands, a sneering spectator responded by stating that he did not understand a single word of those cheers.
Williams, however, understood perfectly. She nodded warmly towards the fan, then she stepped up to the baseline and fired down a 120mph service winner en route to a decisive hold.
There were plenty of other quintessential Serena moments, 1,375 days later, dotted across a wildly fun, gripping and satisfying afternoon at Queen’s Club as Williams, one of the greatest athletes of all time, marked her unlikely return to competition at 44 years old alongside Victoria Mboko with a 7-6 (2), 6-2 victory over the third seeds Nicole Melichar-Martinez and Erin Routliffe.
Williams resumed her life as a professional tennis player to an uncharacteristic roar from a packed crowd as she walked through the clubhouse on to the court. Flanked by a formidable, precocious partner in Mboko, Williams could not suppress her smile as she warmed up on the grass.
The match started off in hilarious fashion. After netting a reflex volley in the opening game, Williams’ second shot was a drive volley straight at the body of Melichar-Martinez. Two points later, another successful body shot. The message was clear – time and age has done nothing to dull her decisiveness.
Williams volleyed excellently throughout but the most impressive sight was the return of the greatest serve women’s tennis has ever seen. It is still a sublime, destructive weapon and its precision only improved throughout the match.
There were, of course, plenty of reminders of Williams’ age and her absence. Her return of serve was poor throughout, her movement below par and it also took a long time for her to find her range on her groundstrokes. Mboko, who at just 19 years old is ranked world No 9, played great.
To her credit, Williams allowed Mboko to lead, with the Canadian serving first in both sets and being elected as the receiver during the sudden-death points at deuce.
Asked to assess her performance, Williams laughed: “My God, I think I would give myself – what do you think? A C-minus?”
Her comments prompted a knowing nod from Mboko: “It’s funny, because there were moments in the match where we were: ‘Oh, this isn’t going great’ or kind of very self-critical, but I understand.
“It feels like it was far from our level but I think it’s great knowing that you have so much room for improvement. And have the motivation to get better.” The most dominant question surrounding Williams’ return is why she is doing it.
A sentimental onlooker might point to the scene on the practice courts before the match. Williams prepared for her first professional tennis match in nearly four years on the nondescript court seven, where she was accompanied by her eldest daughter, Olympia, dressed in a fuchsia T-shirt that perfectly matched the colour of her mother’s dress.
Although a five-year-old Olympia was old enough to understand the events of her mother’s retirement, now three months shy from her ninth birthday, she was able to participate. Olympia ran around the court playing with her mother while Williams went through her stretches.
Once Williams began to strike groundstrokes, Olympia jumped on court multiple times to pick up stray balls and throw them back towards her team.
It is sweet that Williams, whose youngest daughter Adira is two, is able to share her profession with her children now.
A viewer from the United States may have come to different conclusions. Williams is the face of Ro, the GLP-1 weight-loss drug that she has used, and in which her husband invests. Having already earned an unfathomable amount of money in her career, Williams spent her four years of retirement attempting to earn even more money, diving into venture capitalism. Pictures of her comeback on Tennis Channel were accompanied with a slew of Ro commercials and a graphic before the broadcast, which was sponsored by Ro.
Still, even the greatest cynic would have been moved by the climax after an entertaining 90 minutes on Andy Murray Arena.
It was Williams who was charged with serving out her first victory in her latest comeback. She duly slammed the door shut the same way she has done so many times before: ace, ace, unreturned serve. Job done.
