Serena Williams will return to action at next year’s Australian Open, after welcoming her first child with her fiancé, Reddit cofounder Alexis Ohanian, on 1 September.
The former world number one only has three months to prepare for the championship and will hope to defend the crown she won this year at the Melbourne Park.
Speaking on Tuesday, the tournament Director, Craig Tiley, confirmed that Serena will feature in the grand slam.
“Serena will be back,” Tiley told reporters in Melbourne. “She wants to come back in 2018 and defend her title and she’s in training now.”
Also, Craig said that: “There are several months to go and obviously it will be up to her as to where she is with her fitness.”
Serena, 35, hopes to retain the A$55 million prize money, a 10 percent hike from last year’s $3.11 million.