Serena Williams to return on Dec 30

Former world number one Serena Williams will
make a surprise comeback at the Mubadala
exhibition event in Abu Dhabi next Saturday, as
she gears up for her Australian Open title defence
in January.The 36-year-old has not played since
clinching a 23rd Grand Slam singles title 11
months ago, after revealing she was pregnant
during the tournament and taking time off to give
birth to her first child, Alexis Olympia in
September.Williams will return with a match
against Latvia’s French Open champion Jelena
Ostapenko, making them the first women to
compete in the previously male-only event.
“I am delighted to be returning to the court in Abu
Dhabi for the first time since the birth of my
daughter,” she said in a statement released by
the tournament organisers on Sunday.
“The Mubadala World Tennis Championship has
long marked the beginning of the men’s global
tennis season and I am excited and honoured to
be making my comeback as part of the first
women to participate in the event.”
The former world number one can equal Margaret
Court’s all-time record of 24 Grand Slam titles,
although she will have to make do with a low
seeding Down Under after slipping to 22nd in the
rankings.
It also provides a boost the Australian Open, after
two-time champion Victoria Azarenka pulled out
of the warm-up event in Auckland over the
ongoing custody battle that has stopped the
Belarusian from playing since Wimbledon in July.
Serena claimed an Open-era record 23rd major
title by beating older sister Venus 6-4, 6-4 in this
year’s Australian Open final, a feat made all the
more remarkable by the fact that she was two
months pregnant.
Ostapenko broke through with a stunning French
Open title, and the 20-year-old will take on
Serena for the first time.
The Mubadala event had already seen men’s
world number one Rafael Nadal and three-time
Grand Slam winner Stan Wawrinka withdraw.
The six-strong men’s field in Abu Dhabi does
feature Serb Novak Djokovic, who will also be
making his comeback.
The 12-time Grand Slam champion has not
played competitively since his quarter-final loss
to Tomas Berdych at Wimbledon because of an
elbow injury.