Serena kanusurika kifo, arudi kwa kishindo

Serena Williams jana alicheza kwa mara ya kwanza tangu apite kwenye kipindi kigumu zaidi katika maisha yake.

Alishinda mchezo huo na kuianza tena safari baada ya kuwa kitandani kwa muda mrefu.

Simulizi za mapito yake zinasikitisha, anamshukuru kuwa alikwenda hospitali badala ya kwenda kwenye sherehe, na kwa mujibu wa daktari, kama angechelewa hali ingekuwa mbaya zaidi.

Damu ilivia kwenye mapafu ya star huyo wa tennis duniani, amefanyiwa operesheni kuiondoa.

Serena (kulia) akiwa na dada yake, Venus

She had a bit of a scare but Serena Williams' sheer strength of determination saw her to a famous comeback victory today.

The four-time Wimbledon champion has been through a horrendous year which saw her require life-saving surgery for blood clots on her lungs.

'I'm a little rusty but I enjoy being back on the grass. I will go inside now and see how I feel.

'Serena had captivated her pre-match audience on Monday with tales of life-saving surgery, of slicing her foot open on broken glass and of the mental torment endured since she last struck a tennis ball in competitive anger.

The 13-time Grand Slam champion, who has not played tennis competitively since last summer, told of her arduous recovery after three major operations.

She revealed the graphic detail of her ordeal as she underwent surgery to remove a blood clot on the lung.

Williams, 29, said: 'It has been a totally different road because I've had some serious health problems and I was literally on my deathbed at one point.

'The doctors said that I had several clots bilaterally in both lungs. They said if they had caught it two days later, it could have been a lot more serious, possibly career-ending.

'A lot of people die from it because you don't recognise it. I couldn't breathe. I honestly just thought I was out of shape and needed to get on the treadmill or hit the elliptical (cross-trainer).
'It was my physio who forced me to go to the hospital whereas I was actually on the way to a party. She said, "No, you need to go to the hospital". I'm glad I didn't go to that party.

'
The blood clots formed during Serena's recuperation from a second operation on her right foot, lacerated by glass in a restaurant in Munich last July, an event which is still shrouded in mystery in spite of this explanation.

'After it was all over, there were a few days when I didn't get out of bed. So much had happened to me and I couldn't understand why.

I was thinking, "Just what didn't I do or what did I do to deserve this?" '

'We were leaving the restaurant, I was walking and then I felt something. I just stepped back and said, "Oh, that really hurts". There was a massive pool of blood.

I was like, "Oh my gosh". 'I ended up fainting because I lost so much blood. I ended up getting stitches in both feet. One was on top and one was on the bottom of my other foot. It sliced right through my ligament. I didn't know that, I just knew that my toe was hanging low.

'The second surgery on my foot was way tougher than the first, especially mentally. More mentally tough than anything I have been through in my life outside of my sister's passing (her eldest sister Yetunde Price was shot dead in 2003).

'I was in a cast for 20 weeks. I'd rather have been in jail for 20 weeks because I really hated that cast.
Having your foot in one position so long, not moving it, not being able to walk or do a lot of things caused a lot of the problems.

In such a chilling context, the next three weeks are about enjoyment for the younger Williams sister, who will be competing in Wimbledon.

'I'm just excited to be here and playing. I hope tennis has missed Venus and me.

'If tennis has missed us half as much as we've missed tennis, we're in a good place. This is a comeback that's totally different from any other comeback.'