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By Martyn Herman
LONDON, June 9 (Reuters) – American great Serena Williams said she was still to decide whether to play at Wimbledon after making a winning comeback on Tuesday nearly four years after her last competitive match.
The 44-year-old stole the limelight at the Queen’s Club WTA event on Tuesday as she returned to the court alongside Canadian teenager Victoria Mboko to beat Nicole Melichar-Martinez and Erin Routliffe in front of a packed stadium.
Her performance, packing plenty of her trademark firepower, was impressive and with Wimbledon just around the corner, the prospect of her returning to the site of seven of her Grand Slam singles titles is an enticing one.
While she has been coy on a possible singles return, a doubles appearance would be a huge boost to the tournament’s TV ratings and she would almost certainly receive a wildcard.
“Like I said the other day, it’s just a day at a time. I still have a little time to decide, and they have been great about giving me that space and time to decide,” she said.
Williams was given a raucous reception as she walked on court and she treated the crowd to some crunching winners and some reminders of her awesome serving power.
Asked for her rating on her performance, she said: “My God. What do you think? A C-minus?
“I got nervous right before the match, like, maybe 30 minutes before, and then I just let it go.
“With all the elements, considering coming back on grass is probably not the easiest surface. Overall, it was decent.”
Playing in front of her daughters was one of the motivations for adding another chapter to her storied career and eight-year-old Olympia and Adira, two, are with her in London.
Asked how they reacted to their mum’s win, she said: “Adira wanted to go to the toy store, and Olympia wanted to know what was for dinner.”
Next up for Williams and 19-year-old Mboko is a clash with Leylah Fernandez and Laura Siegemund in the quarter-finals, scheduled for Thursday.
“It feels like it was far from our level a little bit, but I think it’s great knowing that you have so much room for improvement,” world number nine Mboko said.
“I mean, overall, I’d say it was pretty good.”
(Reporting by Martyn Herman, editing by Pritha Sarkar)
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