Tennis superstar Serena Williams to play in tournament in Central Kentucky
Serena Williams, winner of 23 Grand Slam tennis tournaments and one of the most recognizable figures in sports, will make her return to the court during an event in Nicholasville next month.
Top Seed Tennis Club, which announced last week that it will host the 2020 Top Seed Open presented by Bluegrass Orthopaedics from Aug. 10-17, tweeted Thursday that Williams would use the event to relaunch her season amid the coronavirus pandemic.
The Top Seed Open will be the first professional men’s or women’s tournament to be played in the United States since the pandemic swept across America last March.
Williams, currently ranked No. 9 in the world, will be the only top-10 player allowed to enter the event unless the Women’s Tennis Association tournament expands its prize money pool from its current $225,000, according to Tennis.com.
Top Seed officials announced Thursday that Sloane Stephens will also be included in the field. Stephens, ranked No. 37 in the world, won the U.S. Open in 2017 and has also competed for the United States in the Olympics.
The Top Seed Open will feature a 32-player singles draw and a 16-player doubles field. The entry deadline is Monday with the full field expected to be announced next Wednesday.
The Kentucky Bank Tennis Championships, a pro tournament with men’s and women’s divisions, has been held in Lexington for the past 28 years. This year’s event, scheduled for Aug. 3-9 at the University of Kentucky, was canceled recently because of COVID-19 concerns.
The new event in Nicholasville will be the first WTA tournament played in the U.S. since the Oracle Challenger Series took place March 2-8 at Indian Wells, Calif. The following week’s tournament was canceled because of the pandemic and no events have been played since.
The men’s ATP Tour is scheduled to restart Aug. 14-21 with the Citi Open in Washington, D.C.
Top Seed Open tournament director Jonathan Sanders said his event is working with Bluegrass Orthopaedics and Labtox Labs to follow the WTA’s health and safety protocols. As yet, no final determination has been made about whether spectators will be allowed to attend. Sanders said players will be sequestered in a bubble-like environment much like the NBA has adopted in Florida to restart its season.
The newly constructed Top Seed Tennis Club, located just outside Man o’ War Boulevard at 777 E. Brannon Road, is home to tennis tournaments of all levels. The grounds include 12 indoor and nine outdoor courts, a 4,000 square foot gym and yoga studio, player lounges and fully equipped locker rooms, and a full-service bar and lounge, among other amenities.
Williams’ 23 major championships in singles are more than any man or woman in the Open era. She has won the Australian Open and Wimbledon seven times each, the U.S. Open six times and the French Open three times.
Williams and her older sister Venus, who has won seven Grand Slam events, revolutionized the women’s game with their overpowering style, speed and skill and have been dominant forces in the sport for more than 20 years
Because of the pandemic, Serena Williams has not played since participating in Fed Cup qualifying matches Feb. 7-8 in Everett, Wash. Prior to that, she was defeated in the round of 32 at the Australian Open in January. In her only other tournament in 2020, a tuneup for the Australian Open in New Zealand earlier that month, she won the ASB Classic.
Williams recently confirmed that she also plans to play in this year’s U.S. Open Aug. 31-Sept. 13 in New York.
This story was originally published July 16, 2020 at 5:31 PM.