Serena’s Return to the Tour
For every fan out there who has kept a watchful eye on the world of tennis to hear news of former World Number 1 Serena Williams’ return to the court, the wait is over. The American professional tennis player has confirmed that she is, in fact, making her
comeback to the Women’s Tennis Association tour at the Generali Ladies Linz, held next week.
The 29 year old player has been sidelined from the sport since July, when she suffered an injury on her right foot as a consequence of stepping on glass at a night club in Munich, Germany. This injury occurred days after she emerged the victor from the 2010
Wimbledon Championship, adding to her Grand Slam credentials of this year, which also include a victory at the Australian Open earlier in January.
Williams’s injury has been a subject of interest, doubt and even multiple conspiracy theories. Given the Williams family and their record of being notoriously private about their personal lives, these consequences are not entirely unexpected. Speculation
about the injury has been rife, with theories ranging from the believable (Williams may have had a rhinoplasty, forcing her to retire from the tour to recover, and the injury and black recuperative boot are simply a cover) to the absurd (Williams is faking
all this, simply because she enjoys the publicity). However, medical records refute these theories, and her injury at the very least, has been confirmed.
However, the tennis star’s participation in this tournament, held at Linz, has now been confirmed. This announcement was made on Thursday, the same day on which Williams lost her World Number 1 ranking to Dane, 20 year old Caroline Wozniacki, who will be
on the top of the rankings once the list is revised on Monday. After surgery on her injured foot, Williams scheduled her comeback twice: once at the Toray Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo and once at this week’s China Open in Beijing. She dropped out of both events,
withdrawing at the last moment. However, her participation at the Generali Ladies Linz event seems to be a cinch; the organizers of the event have issued a statement on their website, saying, “Her flight is booked, her arrival in Linz is scheduled for Sunday
morning”.
The Linz tournament will be Serena Williams’s seventh event of the year. She has already qualified for the year end championships in Doha, and is also available for the US Fed Cup team, for a November tournament against Italy in San Diego.
Serena Williams has participated at the 2004 Generali Ladies Linz, where she went down to Alina Jidkova of Russia in the second round. This lower level, $220,000 event will help Williams to regain her footing and get herself in playing condition for the
Masters event at Doha, at the end of October.
Other players at Linz this year include former event champion, World Number 26 Daniela Hantuchova (the second-highest ranked player at the event), as well as US Open quarter finalist Dominika Cibulkova. Another participating player is the 2009 Linz runner
up, Petra Kvitova.
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