Serena Williams will come back to tennis in Abu Dhabi one week from now, right around four months in the wake of conceiving baby. The American, 36, will play world number seven Jelena Ostapenko in a presentation coordinate on 30 December amid the Mubadala World Tennis Championship. Williams, who has won an Open-period record 23 Grand Slams, said she was “enchanted to come back to the court”.
Previous world number one Williams has not played since winning the Australian Open in January.
Mentor Patrick Mouratoglou said in November that no choice had been made about whether Williams would play in the season’s first Grand Slam.
Australian Open executive Craig Tilley has said Williams is “likely” to shield her title at the 2018 competition, which begins on 15 January.
Positioned 22nd on the planet, she would not require a trump card.
Rafael Nadal, Milos Raonic and Stan Wawrinka have hauled out of the Mubadala World Tennis Championship, which keeps running from 28-30 December.
Latvian Ostapenko, whose match against Williams will be the first between ladies to be played at a competition initially organized in 2009, stated: “It is a tremendous respect to be a piece of that history.”
