It is ‘very likely’ that Serena Williams will defend her title at the Australian Open in January, according to tournament director Craig Tiley.
The former world No.1 hasn’t played on the tour since winning the title at the start of this year due to pregnancy. Williams gave birth to her first child, Alexis in September and recently married her partner. Now she is set to return to action just three months after becoming a mother.
During an interview with The Herald Sun on Wednesday, Tiley has stated that Williams is gaining momentum in her comeback. Revealing that she has confirmed her entry and has already sorted out her visa. The 36-year-old is a seven-time champion in Melbourne and hasn’t missed the tournament since 2011.
“She’s got her visa, she’s entered, she’s practicing and she’s probably just got to find a bit more space for a bigger entourage,” Tiley told The Herald.
The confident remark comes a week after Williams’ coach, Patrick Mouratoglou, told CNN that no decision has been made about her presence in the first grand slam of 2018. On November 28th Mouratoglou said that he would be flying to Florida to train alongside Williams before deciding about Australia.
“We will see how her body is reacting and how her tennis level is and we will take a decision regarding Australia.” Said the French coach.
Tiley, who has been the CEO of Tennis Australia since 2013, believes that Williams’ return is spurred on by a potential milestone that she could achieve next year. A 23-time grand slam champion, the American is only a grand slam title away from equalling Margaret Court’s all-time record in the majors. Court won the Australian Open 11 times during her career.
“There’s no question that she’ll be ready in our view and she wants to break a record that is Margaret Court’s,” he said.
“It would be a pretty significant accomplishment for her to be able to do that.”
The Australian Open will get underway on January 15th and it will be the 106th edition of the event. Tiley has confirmed that all the top 100 players on both the men’s and women’s tour have entered, but that it likely to change due to some player injuries.
