It was only earlier this week that Serena Williams had sent shockwaves throughout the tennis community by announcing her return after almost four years. The 23-time Grand Slam champion had first confirmed that she will be playing doubles at the HSBC Championships, but then had also announced that she will be in action at the Berlin Open as well. Though fans were left incredibly excited after hearing the news, many also wondered if Serena would also be returning to singles. The American has now addressed the speculations but hasn’t provided any clarity.

“For singles? I can’t say yeah, I can’t say no, I would probably need to train more,” she said during a press-conference on June 7. “That’s not my journey now. I don’t need to win, I’ve won more than most people in their whole lives. For me, it’s not important to me, I have to remind myself of that, I don’t have anything to lose. Everything here is to gain.”

The 44-year-old is considered one of the most successful women’s tennis players of all time, and her name is forever etched in the sport’s history books. It is safe to say that she isn’t under any kind of pressure to perform as she makes her long return. However, this really begs the question of why she then decided to return in the first place.

Turns out that while Serena’s hunger for achieving success may well be gone, she wants to once again be a part of the sport that she had dedicated her life to.

“I missed the atmosphere, the travel, you don’t think about how much you love it. But I’ve done it my entire life, when you stop doing something like that, you kind of take it for granted. Now there are different things I can experience in a different way, with my family,” she added.

Though Serena’s doubles partner for the Berlin Open is yet to be confirmed, she is set to form a pair with 19-year-old Victoria Mboko for the HSBC Championships. The Canadian had been rumored to be the returning icon’s partner for the last few weeks. The two didn’t have any previous interactions on the tour since Mboko joined after Serena had already left in 2022, but the latter was left very impressed with the youngster’s performance at last year’s Montreal Masters.

“I saw her [Mboko] play in Montreal last year. She won, and I was impressed with her game, her attitude. What I like the most is that the next time she played she kept at it. It reminded me a lot of myself. Sometimes you have a high and a low, which is OK, but she had this drive. I’ve seen her play doubles, and it was a last-minute commitment, not a last-minute decision. It was pre-11th hour,” she further said.

Notably, Mboko had defied all odds and had clinched her first-ever WTA title as an 18-year-old by triumphing in Montreal. What made the victory even more remarkable was that she had defeated top players like Coco Gauff, Elena Rybakina, and Naomi Osaka on her way to the title.

It was here that Mboko had first caught Serena’s eye, and the Canadian now has the opportunity to team up with one of the biggest icons in women’s tennis history. Mboko is also expected to play alongside Serena in Berlin, as it is unlikely that the American will be playing with two different partners in such a short period of time.

This must feel like a dream for Mboko as Serena has been a big source of inspiration for her since childhood. She has expressed her admiration for the 44-year-old on a number of occasions and would definitely be excited to team up with her.

Victoria Mboko considers Serena Williams as her role model

The youngster had grown up watching Serena win titles, so it isn’t a surprise that she holds her in high regard. Mboko had also admitted that the veteran had a major influence over her playstyle.

“When I was a lot younger, watching tennis a lot on TV, I always saw Serena kind of winning everything,” she had said at the French Open last year. “It was easy for me to look up to her as a role model. She was such an icon at the time. I really loved the way she used to play. When I was younger, I tried to, like, hit like her and tried to hit the ball hard.”

Mboko can very well be the type of partner that Serena needs as she makes her long return to the court. Not only has the Canadian broken into the top 10 at a young age but has also been very active playing doubles.

For context, the World No. 9 has played doubles in five tournaments so far this season, forming pairs with the likes of Mirra Andreeva, Coco Gauff and Iva Jovic. Mboko is pretty comfortable in playing the format and it remains to be seen if she will be able to form a strong team alongside Serena at the HSBC Championships.

The duo is set to kick-off their campaign with a clash against the pair of Erin Routliffe and Nicole-Melichar Martinez in the first round on Tuesday, June 9.