“You never know when you are going to play Wimbledon,” Serena Williams admitted, and certainly that was true for everyone else as well. As the weeks ticked on and the countdown began for this year’s Championships at the All England Club there was certainly no indication that it would feature a seven-time champion. There had not been a retirement announcement but apart from an injury update confirming her withdrawal from the US Open in August, there had been very little at all to suggest that a return was imminent or even part of the plan, either.
But then, quite suddenly, it was, and with a flash of two white tennis shoes in front of a backdrop of deep, early-season grass. “It’s a date,” was all it took to confirm the news and the audacious, long-awaited and yet shocking comeback of the 40-year-old Serena Williams at Wimbledon was on.
