Serena Williams has decided that she is ready to begin playing tennis again. The 36-year-old is scheduled to play in an exhibition match at Mubadala World Tennis Championship in Abu Dhabi, despite giving birth to her first child in September.
The match against French Open winner Jelena Ostapenk will be Serena’s first in almost a year. She previously won her 23rd Grand Slam title at the Australian Open, being already eight weeks pregnant. It is believed that the exhibition match against Ostapenk will serve Williams as a preparation for 2018 Australian Open when she will look to tie Margaret Court’s record for most Grand Slam wins.
“I am delighted to be returning to the court in Abu Dhabi for the first time since the birth of my daughter in September,” – Williams said in a statement. “The Mubadala World Tennis Championship has long marked the beginning of the men’s global tennis season and I am excited and honored to be making my comeback as part of the first women to participate in the event.”
During her absence from tennis, Serena Williams did not only become a mother, but she has also married Reddit co-founder, Alexis Ohanian. After announcing their engagements in December 2016, the couple said their vows in November 2017 at a ceremony in New Orleans. Both Williams and Ohanian took time off from their everyday business in order to spend more time with their baby and enjoy a happy family life. It looks like now Serena is prepared to get into competitive tennis once again and show why she is considered the best woman tennis player in the history of the sport.
