Serena Williams will play at the Emilia-Romagna Open from 22-29 May, leading into the second Grand Slam tournament of the year at Roland Garros. The event is to be held at the President Tennis Club of Montechiarugolo in Parma, Italy
Thursday 13 May 2021 15:04, UK
Serena Williams has accepted a wild card invitation to play at the Emilia-Romagna Open in Parma following her early exit at the Internazionali BNL d'Italia.
Playing her first competitive match in nearly three months, the 23-time Grand Slam champion suffered a shock defeat by Argentina's Nadia Podoroska on Wednesday.
The loss for Williams, who received an opening round bye in Rome, was a major blow to her preparations for the French Open, starting on May 30.
"Maybe I do need a few more matches, so I'm going to try to figure that out with my coach and my team and see what we would like to do," Williams said after losing to Podoroska.
"I have been training for months, but it feels definitely different on clay to make that last adjustment."
Williams' coach Patrick Mouratoglou confirmed that the 39-year-old needs more competitive matches under her belt ahead of Roland Garros.
He tweeted: "Change of plans: Serena hasn't been competing for a while, and we want to get as many matches under our belt as possible before Roland-Garros - so we're adding the Emilia-Romagna Open to our schedule. We'll be back in action next week."
The clay-court event in Parma, which was added to the calendar amid the coronavirus pandemic, starts Sunday.
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