First lady in audience for Williams’ matches
A sellout crowd of 2,600 star-gazing tennis fans came for a rare appearance from the first lady of tennis, Serena Williams. But there was another first lady at Kastles Stadium at the Wharf: Michelle Obama.
Obama was seated with daughters Sasha and Malia above one baseline, and former Washington Wizards swingman Caron Butler, who played last season for the NBA champion Dallas Mavericks, was seated at the other. They saw Williams power Washington to a resounding 25-10 victory over the Boston Lobsters.
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It was Williams’ first appearance in the United States since the 2009 U.S. Open, and it came on the anniversary of an unfortunate event. A year ago to the day, Williams suffered a mysterious injury when she was cut on the foot by shards of glass in a Munich restaurant. Since then, she has had two surgeries to repair a severed tendon and “dropping toe.” She also survived a harrowing blood clot and subsequent hematoma in March.
On Thursday, however, Williams, 29, showed she is regaining the form that produced 13 Grand Slam singles titles. She got to the round of 16 last month at Wimbledon and has a busy summer planned with anticipated stops at Stanford, Toronto and Cincinnati before the U.S. Open.
“I showed up and I did a halfway decent job. I hope to build on that,” Williams said of Wimbledon. “I’m getting there.”
Williams received her ring Thursday for helping the Kastles to the 2009 World TeamTennis title. In the first match, she dominated her service games, combining with Rennae Stubbs for a 5-2 romp in women’s doubles.
Later, Williams combined with 38-year-old Leander Paes in dominating the mixed doubles round 5-1. Then she had to work hard to rally for a 5-4 (5-4) win over Coco Vandeweghe, capturing the clinching shot with a perfect cross-court volley.
Williams didn’t put as much effort into a somnambulant prematch news conference, but she did have a moment when asked whether she has been consulted on designing outfits to jazz up World TeamTennis.
“My suggestions were very inappropriate,” said Williams, a noted clothing designer.
