Serena's latest comeback is more emotional

Can it be two years since U.S. Open fans last saw Serena Williams? Can it be that Serena Williams is again on a comeback from the depths? Can it be in September that Serena Williams will turn 30?

To all, the answer is yes.

In the semifinals of the 2009 U.S. Open, Serena Williams flamed out against Kim Clijsters in an ignominious, inglorious exit.

With Clijsters at match game, with Williams serving 15-30, a lineswoman called Williams for a foot fault on a second serve, and Williams lost it, both the point and her composure. She berated the woman with obscene language and threatening gestures, behavior that was completely contrary to her demeanor throughout her career. She had lost the point to the double fault, then was assessed a penalty point for unsportsmanlike conduct, which happened to be the match point. She was gone.

Now she is back after two years of triumph and of travail. Now she is back with expectations running high that she will win her fourth Open title and 14th major of her career despite being seeded 28th. While others talk of Williams being the favorite at Flushing Meadows, Williams talks of regaining belief in herself.

"I consider myself to just do what I can do best, and hopefully, if that's winning the Open . . . I want to,'' said Williams recently. "I never go in as the favorite. I feel like I'm still the underdog.''

Williams said this after winning on the hard courts of the Rogers Cup in Toronto earlier this month and before that she had won at Stanford. That she is on the winning trail shouldn't be surprising, nor is it surprising she is making a comeback from physical problems. But these physical problems weren't the usual ones. These were scary.

After winning Wimbledon last year, Williams suffered a cut foot leaving a bar in Germany in July. That required two surgeries and a cast, forcing her to miss last year's U.S. Open and the Australian Open this year. Then in February she was on her way to a party in Los Angeles and experienced shortness of breath. Her physiotherapist told her to get to a hospital where it was discovered she was suffering from a pulmonary embolism. After a procedure to remove the blockage, she needed another procedure shortly thereafter to remove a hematoma on her stomach. She has described the embolism as a "near deathbed experience.''

So after missing eight months with the cut foot and then the embolism scare, Williams returned for the grass court season in June, losing in the second round at Eastbourne. But at Wimbledon the magnitude of what she had been through, and what it took to come back, walloped her like one of her own serves when she won her first-round match.

After beating Aravane Rezai, Williams sat in her chair and wept into her towel. Serena Williams, tough as nails, the ultimate competitor, was weeping tears of joy.

"I usually don't cry,'' she said then. "It's been so hard. It's been a disaster year. To be able to come back at Wimbledon is pretty awesome.''

Williams' career has been sterling but certainly not without its complications. She had left knee surgery in 2003 and missed eight months, including the Open. She returned with a vengeance in 2004, winning her first tournament back. But the left knee continued to bother her throughout 2004 and she did not win a major tournament.

But she resoundingly won the Australian Open in 2005. In 2006 the knee flared up again and she didn't win a major. Again she rebounded with a 2007 Australian Open win. Comebacks are as much a part of her repertoire as blazing serves and rocket forehands.

This is different.

"This is totally different from any other comeback because this has given me a whole new perspective on my career and not taking things for granted,'' Williams said. "Not that I've ever taken things for granted before, but there were times when I'm like 'Oh, another match,' and I'm really like, 'This is so hard.'

"But now it's more like, 'Yes, I'm out here, and I could have had a chance where I could never be out here again.' And especially being at the top of your game, having to have something like that happen randomly,'' Williams said. "It's tough, and it really makes me appreciate things. Again, not that I didn't appreciate it before because you guys know more than anything I love winning.''

Chris Evert, the television commentator and former major champion, is impressd with Williams' comeback. "She committed herself. She practiced. She's won two tournaments. That's unbelievable. It's incredible," said Evert. "Not to undermine the rest of the field, but it just shows that she's head and shoulders above anybody else, again, when she's healthy."