Serena Williams made her return to the tennis court on Tuesday as she faced Harmony Tan in a first-round match at Wimbledon. Unfortunately, the 23-time Grand Slam champion lost to Tan in a wild 7-5, 1-6, 7-6 (7) match, and many are wondering when Williams will compete next. After the loss, Williams went to Instagram to send a message to her fans.
“That was insane and intense,” Williams wrote in an Instagram post. “Not the result I came for, but my goodness I enjoyed that. I hope you did as well. Onward and up.” During the post-match press conference, Williams was asked about her future in tennis after competing in her first Grand Slam match in a year.
Videos by PopCulture.com
“That’s a question I can’t answer,” the 40-year-old said. “Like, I don’t know. I feel like, you know, I don’t know. Who knows? Who knows where I’ll pop up.” Williams qualified for Wimbledon as a wildcard. Having won 23 Grand Slam titles as a singles competitor, Williams has nothing to prove, especially at Wimbledon since she’s won that Grand Slam tournament seven times. Williams is not apologizing for the effort she gave on Tuesday.
“Today I gave all I could—you know, today,” she said, per Tennis.com. “Maybe tomorrow I could have gave more. Maybe a week ago I could have gave more. But today was what I could do. At some point, you have to be OK with that.” Williams officially returned to the court earlier in the month as she paid with Ons Jabeur in the Eastbourne International. In June 2021, Willams suffered an injury in the first set of her first-round match at Wimbledon and didn’t return to singles action until Tuesday. During her time away, Williams spent a lot of time promoting the film King Richard which is about her father, Richard Williams.
“Physically I was fine,” Williams said. “Last couple points I really started to feel it. But I’m moving well, I’m getting a lot of balls back. I’m moving well in practice, as well. That wasn’t surprising for me because I knew I was doing that well. I didn’t practice for, you know, a three-hour match, so…I guess that’s where I went wrong.”
