Serena Williams is back on a tennis schedule this week, and her next stop comes in Berlin with Karolina Muchova beside her in the doubles draw. They open on Tuesday against Giuliana Olmos and Erin Routliffe, a first-round match that turns Williams’ comeback from a return to the tour into a live tournament test.
That matters because Williams, 44, is not easing into this from a distance. She came back to the WTA Tour Driven by Mercedes-Benz last week at the HSBC Championships in London, then moved on to the Vanda Pharmaceuticals Berlin Tennis Open with another doubles assignment already set. When Williams was asked why she was back after nearly four years away from tour-level competition, she said she had tired of sitting at home and added that her children are out of school for the summer, so why not. She also said she had nothing better to do.
The pairing with Muchova gives the comeback a new shape. Williams and Victoria Mboko won their opening doubles match at Queen’s Club last week, and Williams called that performance a C-minus even after saying it was fun. Mboko was then forced out after injuring her knee in her singles match the next day, which meant Williams and Mboko had to withdraw from the tournament. That is the hard edge behind what has otherwise looked like a smooth return: the matches are coming fast, but the partner list and the draw can change just as quickly.
Berlin now offers the next checkpoint. If Williams and Muchova win their first two matches, they could reach a semifinal where Coco Gauff and Jessica Pegula would be waiting, though that meeting depends on both teams getting through the rounds in front of them. For Williams, the immediate question is not the far-off matchup. It is whether the comeback that restarted in London can keep moving in Berlin long enough to make that path real.
