Serena Williams admits nerves kicked in before her winning return at Queen’s

Serena Williams revealed even 23-time grand slam singles champions are not immune to butterflies after confessing the nerves kicked in half an hour before her hotly-anticipated comeback victory at the Queen’s Club in London.

The 44-year-old American and her 19-year-old Canadian doubles partner Victoria Mboko secured a 7-6 (2) 6-2 first-round win over third seeds Nicole Melichar-Martinez and Erin Routliffe at the HSBC Championships to mark her first competitive tennis in 1,376 days.

Williams, whose fastest serve hit 120mph, gave herself only a passing grade – a “C-minus”, while her partner, and – at least from the reception – the packed-out crowd at the Andy Murray Arena both disagreed.

“Yeah, I think I was nervous, but I didn’t really think about it. I didn’t really think about being nervous,” said Williams.

“I just thought about having fun, which I did today. So I didn’t really have time.

“I got nervous right before the match, like, maybe 30 minutes before, and then I just let it go.”

Williams, who has also signed up for next week’s Berlin Tennis Open with an as-yet-to-be-determined partner, remained adamant it is premature to be making any decisions about Wimbledon – where she won six doubles titles with sister Venus.

She said: “It’s just a day at a time. I still have a little time to decide, and they have been great about giving me that space and time to decide.”

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The seven-time Wimbledon singles champion joked on court after the victory that she “had nothing better to do” and “got tired of sitting at home”, so she decided to return to the sport she once dominated.

More meaningfully, she said on Sunday the comeback was partially inspired by the