Serena Williams was Friday drawn to face France’s Harmony Tan in the first round of Wimbledon as she returns to singles action after a year away.
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The early focus at the All England Club will be on 23-time Grand Slam singles champion Williams, who has dropped to 1,204th in the world rankings and is unseeded for the tournament, which starts on Monday.
The 40-year-old, who took part in the doubles tournament in Eastbourne this week, has not played singles since she suffered an injury during her first-round match at Wimbledon 12 months ago
Williams’s preparations for Wimbledon suffered a blow after her doubles partner Ons Jabeur withdrew from the Eastbourne tournament because of a knee injury on Thursday.
The American won the last of her seven Wimbledon singles titles in 2016 but reached the final in 2018 and 2019 after returning from having a baby.
Wimbledon is widely considered Williams’s best chance of claiming a 24th Grand Slam singles crown to equal Margaret Court’s all-time record.
The last of the her Grand Slam singles titles came at the Australian Open in 2017.