Serena Williams is back in action!
Four months after giving birth to daughter Alexis
Olympia, the 23-time Grand Slam tennis champion returned to professional
competition on Saturday at the Mubadala World Tennis Championship in Abu Dhabi.
Serena fell short of a victory after facing off
against defending French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko in a hard-fought
exhibition match. According to ESPN, the former top-ranked player dropped the
first set 6-2, rebounded to win the second 6-3 and lost 10-5 in the third set
tiebreaker.
(NEZAR BALOUT/AFP/Getty Images)
Serena’s husband Alexis Ohanian was in the stands
cheering on his wife throughout her match and celebrated her comeback on
Instagram.
“Mama is back in the office,” the proud
hubby wrote.
Despite the defeat, Serena admitted she was excited
about her return to the WTA tour.
“I don’t know if I am totally ready to come back
on the tour yet. I know that when I come back I definitely want to be competing
for championships,” she told ESPN. “I am definitely looking forward
to getting back out there. I am taking it one day at a time. I am going to
assess everything with my team before deciding.”
The exhibition marked the 36-year-old pro athlete’s
first match since winning the 2017 Australian Open in January when she was nine
weeks pregnant. Serena and the Reddit co-founder welcomed their baby girl in
September.
The couple tied the knot in November in
a fairytale wedding ceremony at the Contemporary Arts Center in New Orleans.
The star-studded guest list included Beyoncé, Kim Kardashian West, Anna Wintour
and Ciara.
“I have plenty of comebacks, from injuries, from
surgeries, but I’ve never had a comeback after actually giving birth to a human
being,” she also told ESPN. “So, in my eyes, I feel it was a
wonderful, wonderful match for me.”
Welcome back, Serena!
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