BBC News School Report @ LCS
Serena Williams making a comeback!
By: Sophie
The 36-year-old, 23-time grand slam champion who had a very traumatic and life threatening birth experience went back to tennis for the first time in 6 months on the 8th March 2018.Serena has been showing how her baby is progressing and has made her dramatic return to tennis by being amongst the entries playing in the Indian Wells Tennis tournament. This is a tournament which started on the 5th March and will end on the 18th. This will be the two times champion’s first tournament since winning the 2017 Australian Open. Serena Williams reached the Australian Open semi-finals in 2015 and the finals in 2016 after returning from a California event she had avoided for years because of racial comments shouted from the stands.
Serena did play part of the Australian Open in 2017 when she was pregnant but she didn’t tell anyone until later on so nobody knew that during the tournament. After the tournament in 2017 she sat out of the 2018 Australian Open because she had bigger priorities like raising her daughter.
"I almost died giving birth to my daughter, Olympia"
Before the birth of Olympia, Serena’s coach said she needed a quick recovery as there was a lot that she needed to improve on. Unfortunately it wasn’t as quick as everyone would have hoped because Serena had to undergo an extra procedure to stop blood clots in her lungs. She had the first 6 weeks of motherhood spent in bed. The clots weren’t the only thing that made the birth traumatic. During contractions the baby’s heart rate dropped dramatically. This is why an emergency C-section was needed.
Hopefully her daughter will grow up to be a strong women and Serena will be able return and be the best tennis player, winning the big tournaments.