Ahead of Wimbledon return, Serena Williams recalls tough 2021

American tennis professional Serena Williams recently opened up about how she needed to physically and mentally heal last year and how uncertain she was about her comeback on the tennis court.

Addressing reporters on Saturday ahead of her return to Wimbledon, the 40-year-old said: “I don’t know. I didn’t retire. I needed to heal physically, mentally. Yeah, I had no plans, to be honest. I just didn’t know when I would come back. I didn’t know how I would come back.”

Williams retired during the first round of the tournament last year after sustaining a leg injury. 

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“Last year was tough … I ripped my hamstring. I don’t think anyone ever wants to do that. The whole experience was rough,” she said, according to Sportstar. 

“From there I tried to make New York. I gave everything I could, just every day getting ready or trying to make it. But then it’s like, I’m not going to make it. Hung up my rackets for a little bit until I could just heal.It’s a tough injury actually to have what I had last year. It was no fun,” she added.

Last week, Williams played a doubles match at Eastbourne to mark her return to the sport. 

“Wimbledon is such a great place to be, and it just worked out,” she said. 

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“I went into this saying I would play Eastbourne. I would never be ready for singles, I will play doubles and see how I felt. Definitely probably could have played singles there,” Williams continued.

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“But the doubles was great … I felt more prepared than I thought I would a month or two months or three months ago. So it was surprising, but also it’s a fun time to be out there and to enjoy it. Just to be out on the court again was cool,” she concluded.