World No.1 Serena Williams will end her hiatus from tennis at the Hopman Cup, which begins on January 3rd.
Williams hasn’t played a match since losing in the semi-final of the US Open to Roberta Vinci. The 34-year-old was two wins away from becoming the first woman since 1988 to win all four Grand Slams within the same year before losing to Vinci. Due to her loss, Williams decided to skip the remainder of the season, including the WTA end of year finals in Singapore, so that she can focus on her ‘health issues’.
Williams will team up with Jack sock at the Hopman Cup. She has won the tournament twice before in 2003 and 2008. Last year the 34-year-old reached the final with John Isner before losing 2-1 to Poland (Jerzy Janowicz and Agnieszka Radwańska). Speaking about the upcoming tournament, the world No.1 labelled the event as ‘great preparation’ for the first Grand Slam of 2016.
“We were so close to winning last year. I’m really excited to be back”. Williams said.
“For me the Hopman Cup is super great preparation for the Australian Open. In 2016 I want to play doubles in Australia so it will be really exciting for me to get there, play some doubles and get some little experience at the Hopman Cup.”
The Hopman Cup will be the first tournament that Williams has played in for almost four months. Along with Sock, the American duo will be one of eight teams participating in the event.
Full list of Team for the 2015 Hopman Cup
Group A
Australia Gold – Casey Dellacqua and Lleyton Hewitt
Czech Republic – Lucie Safarova and Jiri Vesely
Ukraine – Elina Svitolina and Alexandr Dolgopolov
United States – Serena Williams and Jack Sock
Group B
Australia Green – Nick Kyrgios and TBC
France – Caroline Garcia and Gael Monfils
Germany – Sabine Lisicki and Alexander Zverev
Great Britain – Heather Watson and Andy Murray
