After a year-long absence, Serena finds her feet in Eastbourne doubles comeback

Game, set, match: Serena Williams (and Ons Jabeur).

The 23-time Grand Slam champion took the tennis world by surprise when she announced her return to competition at Wimbledon via an Instagram post last week, and then she made headlines again after entering the doubles competition in Eastbourne with Jabeur as a warm-up.

Serena has not played a singles match in nearly a year—next week will mark the anniversary of her opening round loss at Wimbledon, when she limped off Centre Court in tears with a knee injury. It’s been even longer since her last doubles match: the 2020 Auckland final, partnered with good friend Caroline Wozniacki ahead of the Dane’s farewell event in Melbourne.

She might have needed a set and a half to shake off the rust and finally find her footing—as well as work out the team communication in her first match with Jabeur—but Serena’s confident finish means Wimbledon just got a whole lot more exciting.

The pair rallied from a set down to defeat Marie Bouzkova and Sara Sorribes Tormo 2-6, 6-3, 13-11 and move into the second round at the Rothesay International Eastbourne. They will face Shuko Aoyama and Chan Hao-Ching next.

“I called her!” Serena said of her and Jabeur’s surprise partnership. "She's been playing so well. I needed to play some matches [before Wimbledon] so I was like, yeah, let’s call. And she’s always been so sweet to me on tour. So I was like, it would be fun to play."

“It's an honor that she picked me," Jabeur said in response. "I couldn’t believe it. I was having dinner [and got the call]; it was crazy.

“It was so much fun. I was a little bit nervous beforehand, playing with such a legend, but she made me really good on the court. Even when I made mistakes, she kept encouraging me—so, thank you for that.”

There was a buzz around the grounds at seeing “Serena Williams (USA)” finally back on an order of play and being called to her match. A roar went out on center court as the American took the stage with Jabeur; even opponents Bouzkova and Sorribes Tormo couldn’t help grinning across the net during the coin toss.

But Czech-Spanish duo were all business when the match began, and the good friends and regular doubles partners thoroughly dominated their opponents at the outset. The encouraging signs were already there from Serena—her powerful serve was still firing, and her doubles prowess and court awareness were still intact—but she couldn’t put it all together yet as the pair leaned on Jabeur in the first set.

Anyone who has taken tennis lessons has heard the phrase “up the middle solves the riddle”, and indeed Bouzkova and Sorribes Tormo regularly found joy in tripping up their opponents with sharp volleys up the middle of the court for the first set and a half.

But soon, Serena and Jabeur grew in confidence and steadily raised their level as the match went on. They received raucous applause when they finally earned their first break of serve of the contest at 2-2 in the second set, and continued to apply pressure as the momentum swung in their favor.

Serena saved her best tennis for the end, and it was perfect timing too, as her 27-year-old partner had started to get tight and was racking up unforced errors at the net. With a booming backhand, Serena dragged Sorribes Tormo out wide and with an exquisite inside-out backhand lob over the Spaniard’s head set up a chance to break, converting it at the net for a 5-3 lead.

Jabeur was not the most confident doubles player at the net and Serena was still struggling with her movement on the court—but together they covered each other’s weaknesses and thrilled fans with a masterful performance in the match tiebreaker.

Both teams held match points during the hard-fought 20-minute decider, with Jabeur failing to convert on putaway opportunities at 9-8 and 10-9. But she redeemed herself with a silky drop shot—her signature shot—to set up a third match point. The pair celebrated victory as Sorribes Tormo sent a volley wide—Serena, pointing with both hands to give the credit to Jabeur, while the Tunisian urged the crowd to give her partner another round of applause.