Serena Williams has opened up about her doubts about continuing to play professional tennis after injuring her right leg during her match against Aliaksandra Sasnovich of Belarus at last year’s Wimbledon tournament. The mother of one made a triumphant win with Ons Jabeur in the Eastbourne International doubles competition earlier this week when they faced off against Spain’s Sara Sorribes Tormo and Czech player Marie Bouzková.
Following the match, Serena gave an interview to the BBC, where she shared that she had a lot of doubts about the notion of playing tennis after her injury. She said, “I would be dishonest if I said it wasn’t. But now my body feels great.” During last year’s Wimbledon match, Serena had twisted her ankle on the grassy court midway through the first set while competing for her 24th Grand Slam title, but despite receiving treatment and attempting to continue, the 40-year-old knew that her injury was too severe to carry on, subsequently resulting in her decision to bow out.
“My love and gratitude are with the fans and the team who make being on center court so meaningful,” she told her fans in a statement posted to her Instagram. “Feeling the extraordinary warmth and support of the crowd today when I walked on – and off – the court meant the world to me.” Earlier this month, Serena received a wild-card entry to partake in Wimbledon 2022, with her first singles match expected to occur either June 27 or 28.
News of Serena’s return to Wimbledon comes just months after reports claimed that the athlete and Formula 1 world champion Lewis Hamilton was joining Sir Martin Broughton’s bid to purchase the Chelsea Football Club from Roman Abramovich.
According to Sky Sports, Serena and Lewis, who have been longtime friends, agreed to invest a combined total of an estimated $24 million if Martin’s offer to Roman is successful. A source told the publication that Lewis will most likely “play a formal role in Chelsea’s future efforts to promote diversity, equity and inclusion if the bid is successful.”
Elsewhere, Serena is also looking to continue lending her producer hat to develop future Hollywood movies after the success of last year’s “King Richard,” which depicts the true story of both Serena and her younger sister Venus, whose father, Richard Williams, stirred his daughters to become two of the greatest female tennis players of all time. Will Smith, who played Richard, ended up winning the Oscar for Best Actor at the Academy Awards shortly after infamously slapping Chris Rock across the face.
“‘King Richard’ had a perfect ending with Venus on the tennis court,” Serena said, implying she’d be open to working on a sequel to the film. “Venus goes in her direction and I go in my direction. It’s two completely different stories.”