Serena Williams Will Return To Play After "Intense Several Weeks Of Training"

After dismissing all the rumours of her retirement, Serena Williams will return on the field after "very intense training".

After her defeat to Naomi Osaka in the Melbourne semifinals in February, Williams spent her day and night in intense practice and claimed to be prepared to "start fresh" in her pursuit of Margaret Court’s record of 24 Grand Slam titles. She said, "So we had intense several weeks of training."

She plans to return at this week’s Italian Open to gear up for Roland Garros later this month after the block of time created on clay courts back home in the United States which was followed by two and a half weeks on the red dirt at the French academy. The academy is reported to be run by her coach Patrick Mouratoglou.

"I feel good….I’m going to have some good matches here hopefully, and then I will be at another Grand Slam, which always makes me excited. So I think either way I’ll be ready."

The 39-year-old tennis player further informed her fans that even if she doesn't post regular contents of her sports, she always practises and plays, her fans "just don't see it".

"It’s good to start fresh but it’s also hard to start fresh," she said on competing against either French Open semifinalist Nadia Podoroska or German qualifier Laura Siegemund in her opening match at the Foro Italico.

The four-time champion in Rome further informed that she will not be playing in the Tokyo Olympics if the COVID-19 protocols don't let her three-year-old daughter into Japan, along with her. "I haven’t spent 24 hours without her, so that kind of answers the question itself." she said on not leaving her daughter for sports as her daughter is her "best friend".

She commented on her participation in the Games by saying, "I haven’t really thought much about Tokyo". The postponing of the Games and the pandemic makes it "so much to think about" for her.