Serena Williams will make her return to tennis at the Eastbourne International next week by playing doubles tennis with Ons Jabeur.
The American player won't play the singles, but she will return to the singles action at Wimbledon, and this doubles event will help her prepare for the grass-court major.
Williams has not played competitive tennis for a year and fans are hoping that her return to Wimbledon will go better than last year. Ons Jabeur, who will be her doubles partner in Eastbourne, spoke to Ben Rothenberg, revealing how it all came to be and how she feels about it.
"I’m still over the moon. I found out before the French Open, and it’s an honour and privilege to play with her. I’m actually nervous, but I’m going to try to be the doubles specialist for the next week and hopefully make zero mistakes."
Jabeur did not initially plan on playing in Eastbourne, but when she heard that Serena Williams was interested in playing doubles with her at the event, she signed up immediately. It happened thanks to their respective coaches, who spoke about it and proposed it to the players.
"My coach, he’s in contact with her coach, Eric. And yeah, I mean, “Would I play doubles with Serena?” I mean, obviously, the answer was yes. She was coming back; I didn’t know where. I wasn’t sure, actually, to play at Eastbourne. But now I’m 100 percent sure I will go, just for doubles."
Jabeur and Serena knew each other a bit before this partnership came to be, but they have never played against each other before. Their partnership this week will be the first time they will spend some time together on the court.
"We talked to each other a few times. She’s very nice, especially when she was with her daughter. I was trying to speak French a little with her; she could speak really good French."
"And we had a moment when she was pregnant. I said, “Congratulations,” and she said, “Thank you, Ons.” And I was like, “You know my name? Really? You know I exist?” So it’s great. I’ve practiced with Venus more, never with Serena; hopefully we will get our first practice next week."