Tuesday at Wimbledon: Williams, Nadal, Swiatek and a Brit bonanza

Serena Williams will be hoping to banish more ghosts when she returns to Centre Court at Wimbledon on Tuesday, nearly a year to the day since her last singles match ended in tears.

Chasing a record-equalling 24th Grand Slam singles crown, Williams limped out of her first-round match last year with an injury and took a year off to "heal physically and mentally".

Now, three months shy of her 41st birthday, Williams is ranked 1,204 in the world and needed a wild card to play at Wimbledon where she has won the title seven times.

She has only two doubles matches at Eastbourne under her belt going into the year's third major where she takes on Harmony Tan.

However, Williams was glad Wimbledon broke with tradition and allowed players to practise on Centre Court to try and avoid a repeat of them slipping on the grass.

"Obviously I was super happy to be out there and have that opportunity. It was also good for me to get that out of my system because the last moment I had on Centre Court was probably not my best moment," said Williams.

"It was always something since the match ended that was always on my mind. So it was a tremendous amount of motivation for that.

"You never want any match to end like that, it's really unfortunate. But it was definitely something that's always been on the top of my mind."

Williams is still chasing another major title to move level with Margaret Court at the top of the all-time standings.

Despite her return at Wimbledon this week, Williams has said her future on the tour remains uncertain, and she did not lay out any "plans" for a comeback following her injury.

She said: "I just needed to heal physically and mentally. I had no plans to be honest.

"I just didn't know when I would come back. How I