Serena Williams is set to play competitive tennis again this week for the first time since her retirement, teaming with Canadian teenager Victoria Mboko in doubles at the HSBC Championships at Queen's Club in London.
The 23-time Grand Slam singles champion said at a news conference Sunday that she is approaching the tournament with a different mindset than she had during her career.
"I don't need to win. I've won more than most people have in their whole lives," Williams told reporters. "So for me... that is not important to me. It's important that I keep reminding myself of that because I don't have anything to prove, I don't have anything to lose. And everything here is just to gain."
Williams said the return was not something she had been planning. In December, she had posted on social media suggesting she was done playing.
"In December, I definitely was not, and then was just talking to a few people... chatting about different possibilities of just having fun," she said. "I was like, 'well, why not?' For a lack of a better explanation."
One factor she cited was her daughters. "For me right now... it's really about my kids getting to see me play," Williams said. She has two daughters, Olympia and Adira.
Williams also spoke about her partner Mboko, and what drew her to the pairing.
"What I like the most about her was that the next time she played, she still kept winning," Williams said. "I love that, you know? It reminded me a lot of myself."
When asked whether she might return to singles competition, Williams said she would need more training first. "I feel like, I probably need to train a little bit more if I want to play singles and we'll see if I get there, and if not, that's not, that's not my journey right now," she said.
Williams and Mboko are scheduled to face the No. 3-seeded doubles team of Nicole Melichar-Martinez and Erin Routliffe on Tuesday.
