Williams Sisters Begin Return to Tour Next Week

Written by: Staff on 18th November 2011

Williams Sisters Begin Return to Tour Next Week

Serena Williams of the US hits a return to Samantha Stosur of Australia during the women's final match on the fourteenth day of the 2011 US Open Tennis Championship at the USTA National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows, New York, USA 11 September 2011. The US Open has been extended due to weather for the fourth year in a row and the men's final will now be played on 12 September 2011. EPA/JOHN G. MABANGLO |

Both are in need of match play after barely competing in 2011, so what better idea than to play each other. And so it is that Serena and Venus Williams will meet across the net in an exhibition match in Medellin, Colombia next week, before pairing up against Francesca Schiavone and Flavia Pennetta in Milan on December 3rd.

The sisters have long been known for limiting their schedule, but this year they have both had good reason to be absent. Serena didn’t play for almost a year after cutting her foot on glass shortly after winning Wimbledon 2010, and then her life was threatened when she suffered a hematoma and a pulmonary embolism.

She didn’t begin her 2011 season until Eastbourne, and then played just five more events – Wimbledon, Stanford, Toronto, Cincinnati and the US Open before giving up the rest of the season for medical reasons. In all, she played 25 matches, winning all but three.

Venus suffered a hip injury that forced her to retire after just one game of her third round match against Andrea Petkovic at the Australian Open, and she also made her comeback at Eastbourne. She then played just Wimbledon and the first round of the US Open, before announcing that she was suffering from Sjögren’s Syndrome and taking an indefinite break. Her match total for 2011 was eight wins from 11 matches.

“DAILY TENNIS NEWS WIRE”

Topics: Serena Williams, Venus Williams