Serena Williams set to return to court in Fed Cup

[February 09, 2018]  More than a year removed from her last competitive match, and five months after giving birth to her first child, Serena Williams will return to action this weekend wearing national-team colors.

Williams will be part of the United States' Fed Cup team in a first-round tie against the Netherlands at Asheville, N.C. The teams will contest two singles matches Saturday, then the reverse singles matches followed by a doubles match Sunday.

The U.S. team also includes Serena's sister, eighth-ranked Venus Williams, plus No. 17 CoCo Vandeweghe and No. 62 Lauren Davis. The Netherlands team consists of No. 108 Richel Hogenkamp, No. 124 Arantxa Rus, No. 165 Lesley Kerkhove and doubles specialist Demi Schuurs.

U.S. captain Kathy Rinaldi has yet to announce whether Serena Williams will compete in singles, doubles or both.

"She's been out becoming a new mom, and she's looking to get back into playing," Rinaldi said. "We saw her play an exhibition at the end of last year, but this is a great way for her to start the year and get a couple matches or a match behind her. ...

"It's a quick turnaround after having her first child. She's very professional, and she has a lot of pride for playing for her country. She'll be ready to go."

If history is a guide, Serena Williams picked a good event for her comeback. In Fed Cup play, she holds a 13-0 career singles record and a 3-1 doubles record.

When last seen in competition, Serena Williams won the 2017 Australian Open title for her 23rd career major championship. She beat Venus Williams 6-4, 6-4 in the final, later announcing that she was pregnant during the event.

She needs one more Grand Slam title to tie the record held by Australia's Margaret Court.

"Maybe this goes without saying, but it needs to be said in a powerful way: I absolutely want more Grand Slams," Serena Williams recently told Vogue. "I'm well aware of the record books, unfortunately. It's not a secret that I have my sights on 25."

Caroline Wozniacki, who captured last month's Australian Open in Serena Williams' absence, told ESPN.com, "She's such an amazing, incredible athlete. I would never write her off. The thing about Serena is she's never going to come back unless she feels she's where she wants to be tennis-wise, physically and mentally."

While Serena Williams' return is grabbing the majority of the attention in the buildup to the Fed Cup tie, the secondary story is the court surface in Asheville.

 

Netherlands captain Paul Haarhuis called the surface "one of the worst" he has seen, according to the Asheville Citizen-Times. The newspaper reported that the surface was laid Sunday and Monday, and players began practicing on it Tuesday.

"Whenever you bring in a temporary court, it is not atypical to have some issues early in the week," U.S. Tennis Association spokesman Brendan McIntyre told the Citizen-Times. "Every arena has a different subfloor. It's why we load in and roll it out so early in the week so we can take some feedback from captains from both sides.

"We're able to make adjustments so by the time the court is being used for the weekend, it's playing at 100 percent optimal levels."

The Netherlands team will need perfection, too, if it is to shock the U.S. team this weekend.

"it might be the biggest upset in U.S. tennis history, but we're going for it," Haarhuis said. "If you look at Serena, how often does she lose to someone that's not ranked in the top 10 or top 20 or outside the top 100? The odds are not good, but we do believe that it's possible.

"We're the underdog by far, that won't change if they bring in five new players, we're still the underdog, but we still have to believe that it can be possible."

The United States is the defending Fed Cup champion, having defeated Belarus 3-2 last November in the final at Minsk. Vandeweghe won two singles matches, but American Sloane Stephens lost her two singles matches, leaving the doubles match to determine the title. Vandeweghe then teamed with Shelby Rogers for a straight-sets doubles victory.

In the other Fed Cup first-round ties this weekend, Belarus plays host to Germany in Minsk, Switzerland opposes the Czech Republic in Prague, and Belgium visits France in La Roche-sur-Yon.

The USA-Netherlands winner will meet the France-Belgium winner in the semifinals on April 21 and April 22.

--Field Level Media

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