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WIMBLEDON 2018
04/05/18, Bunmi Akpata-Ohohe
serena-with-wimb.jpg
Serena is seen here displaying the Venus Rosewater Dish she has won seven times at Wimbledon

With Serena Williams making her gradual comeback after the birth of her daughter, the tennis world is wondering if she'll ever recapture her best form and win more titles.

Serena Williams has been talking about how she almost died after giving birth to her daughter, Alexis Olympia, and was bedridden for six weeks. She gave birth to Olympia September 1, last year. She was speaking after her third attempt to stage a comeback after childbirth. It was an encounter with her senior sister Venus at Indian Wells in California in March.

Venus beat her 6-3, 6-4 in the fourth round of the tournament. She had to admit herself that she still had a long way to go to full strength and fitness. The question that is now on everyone's lips is whether Serena would be fit enough to play at this year's Wimbledon. The good news, however, is that she has already had three comeback competitions under her belt and she would also be competing at the Miami Opens and at least one Grand Slam, Roland Garros in Paris in May, before Wimbledon starts in the summer.

The 23-time Grand Slam Singles Champion is now aged 36. She withdrew from the Australian Open in January because she said she wasn't where she wanted to be physically but made her return at the U.S. Fed Cup competition in February. As to which tournaments and how many Serena would partake in the 2018 circuit, her tennis instructor, French man Patrick Mouratoglou, recently made known her plans to play in several of the prestigious major tournaments, including all three remaining grand slams:  Roland Garros, Wimbledon and US Open and the WTA Finals in Singapore if she makes it into the top eight. 

Wimbledon is generally regarded as the most prestigious of the four slams due to its storied past as the oldest tennis tournament in the world. It is synonymous with royalty, tradition, popularity, location, prize money, trophy, white dress code for all, not to mention its overpriced strawberries and cream and the dreadful British summer weather. But most notably the very well-manicured grass turf of the All-England Club stands it far apart from other tournaments.  

The Williams Sisters have made Wimbledon their home and have won 12 titles between them since 2000, the last in 2016 when Serena took her seventh Wimbledon title. The debate has therefore started on whether the sisters would win more trophies on the WTA-tour because of their advancing years and if they would ever know when to call it a day? 

For Serena, already one of the all-time greats in the game of tennis, if she gets back quickly and is fully fit and at her physical best, there's still loads for her to play for, not least the likelihood of her outdoing Margaret Smith Court (Australian) as the most decorated competitor in the chronicle of her sport - men's or women's. Court, now age 75, the woman Serena is chasing in terms of Grand Slam titles, reached the Wimbledon final in 1971 while also carrying her first child. She won her final three titles in 1973 - the first mother to win the Australian Open, French Open and US Open after giving birth to her son Danny in 1972.  With 24, Court has one more Grand Slam singles title to her name than Serena (though only 11 of those were won during the Open era). Serena is thus within sight of Court's all-time-record of 24 majors.

Despite her current state as a new mom, Serena's mental resilience is still outstanding. The tennis community is waiting with bated breath for the mother of all comebacks.

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