Three months after she becomes a mother in September, Grand Slam Tennis star, Serena Williams looks set to return to defend her Australian Open title.
Australia Open Director, Craig Tiley was quoted on www.independent.co.uk as he hinted that the mother of Alexis Ohanian looks set to defend the title she won in 2017.
She now hopes to return to grand slam tennis in time for the Australian Open in January next year, Craig Tiley said on the online platform.
He said, โSerena, the competitor that she is, she wants to win more than the 23 grand slam titles that she has. She was eight weeks pregnant when she played the Australian Open and very few people knew that.โ
The 23-time grand slam singles champion and her fiance Alexis Ohanian named their daughter Alexis Olympia Ohanian Jr, with Williams previously tweeting: โFun fact my daughtersโ initials are AO as in the Aussie open she won with me AustralianOpenโ.
Tiley added: โWeโre proud of the fact sheโs gone around the world, sheโs told that her babyโs AO โ Australian Open, Alexis Ohanian. We have a special relationship with Serena, the Williams family, both her and Venus. She wants to come back in 2018 and defend her title. Obviously, at training now, there are several months to go and it will be up to her as far as where she is with her fitness.โ
Tiley said: โOn the menโs side, there has been a lot of concern and conjecture around Andy Murray, Novak Djokovic, Kei Nishikori. I can tell you that in talking to Andy, he has been training and he is preparing for having a great year in 2018.
โHow much would this year have hurt him, to watch over the entire year Roger and Rafa share four grand slam titles โ he would not have like that. As competitive as Andy is, we know heโs back and heโll want to improve his current ranking of number three in the world and getting back to number one.โ
Tiley also announced the prize money for next yearโs tournament will rise by 10% to 55million Australian dollars (ยฃ32.5million), with the men and womenโs champions earning 4million Australian dollars (ยฃ2.3million).
A victory for Serena Williams at the Australian Open 2018 would see her match Margaret Courtโs all-time record of 24 grand slam singles titles.
Recall that the 35-year-old Serena defeated her sister Venus in the final of the 2017 Australian Open 6-4 6-4.
