With her right knee knelt and left fist clenched, the power, poise and aura of Serena Williams returned to Wimbledon, only for it to be broken by a spellbinding performance from the virtually unknown Harmony Tan. With one remarkable comeback already complete, it would take an extraordinary effort to deny Williams, on a scarcely believable late-night thriller under the lights on Centre Court.
The scene was set for Williams, the script written too. It had been 364 days since she had painfully departed Centre Court, forced to retire from her first-round match after tearing her hamstring against Aliaksandra Sasnovich. The emergence on Tuesday evening out from under the royal box was the moment she had been building towards since. and after battling from a set down to lead 5-4 in the decider, the circle was close to closing.
