While training with Frances Tiafoe on Sunday at the Meads Tennis Club, her first spectators were passers-by who happened to take a look at the club from the hilly road and, to sound shock, saw one of the most famous athletes in the world looking at them. . On Tuesday afternoon, Williams finally entered the Eastbourne International stadium and together with Ons Jabeur made a victorious return to her first match after a one-year dismissal. After a rusty start, the pair came together from a set and a break down to beat Marie Bouzkova and Sara Sorribes Tormo 2-6, 6-3, 13-11. It was only on Tuesday afternoon that Williams and Jabeur met as partners and trained together for the first time and it showed. Aspects of Williams’s game were naturally covered in rust after such a long absence and Jabeur, in her monotonous form of life, is less confident on the double court. They were leveled early on by their solid, dynamic opponents. But as the fight progressed, Williams steadily improved. Her serve went up to his incredible and these necessary small steps around the ball came back. After a break, Williams served the second set with a vintage toy. First he blocked a corner backhand passing a winning shot while he was running, scoring a long and narrow grunt and then closed the door with a cold ace. By the time the tiebreak started, Williams had woken up and was steady from the baseline, but Jumper was the one who scored the decisive point, bringing an impressive drop shot winner to raise the match point and the crowd rose to their feet before they get it. As they celebrated, Jabeur and Williams showed each other, begging the crowd to enjoy it. “It was so much fun,” Jabeur said. “I was nervous before playing with such a legend, he did me good on the pitch, even when I made mistakes, he encouraged me.” Katie Boulter amazed Karolina Pliskova, who was a runner-up at Wimbledon 2021. Photo: Mike Hewitt / Getty Images This is a step forward for Williams, but the future remains unclear. She has not played for 51 weeks after slipping into last year’s first round of Wimbledon and injuring her back knee, forcing her to retire from the tournament. In the last year, she remained in the public eye, but her absence from the tour in her 40s made many wonder if she had competed for the last time. Such thoughts were obviously on her mind as well. “I take it literally once a day,” he said. I really spent my time with my back injury, so I don’t make many decisions after that. Having pushed for a full return to the 2023 tour if her body is healthy, her indecision about her future was clear. “I do not know. I can not answer that. I love tennis and I like to play, otherwise I would not be out here, right? But I also like what I do off the court, what I do with Serena Ventures. It’s interesting , so it’s a lot “. While breastfeeding her hind thigh and then detaching herself from the sport, Williams admitted that there were times during the past year when she questioned whether she was still capable of playing: “I would be dishonest if I said I was not. Now my body feels great. It’s double, I only play half the court. I have done a lot of training and I definitely feel good “. Subscribe to The Recap, the weekly email with authors’ choices. He returned for another attempt for the 24th Grand Slam title. This was just the beginning, her first small steps back in the sport after such a big dismissal, but it remains to be seen where she will go. Tuesday was a terrible day for the British players in Eastbourne. Katie Boulter, a former top 100 player still struggling to recover from various injuries, achieved the biggest victory of her career as she defeated No. 7 Karolina Pliskova 1-6, 6-4, 6-4 to reach 16. No. 169 Jodie Burrage ended the day beating Paula Badosa, No. 4, 6-4, 6-3 in the world. Ryan Peniston, meanwhile, continued his season on the grass, knocking out Holger Rune, the 8th seed, 4-6, 7-6 (5), 6-1.
