Serena Williams is planning to make her return to competition at a new hard-court tournament in Kentucky next month.
It'll be the 23-time Grand Slam singles champion's first action since playing for the U.S. in the Fed Cup in February, before all sanctioned tennis was shut down the next month because of the coronavirus pandemic. Williams had helped defeat Latvia, where she defeated Jelena Ostapenko and was beaten by Anastasija Sevastova.
The women's and men's professional tennis tours are scheduled to resume in August.
The Kentucky event, called the Top Seed Open, announced Thursday that Williams and 2017 U.S. Open champion Sloane Stephens will be in the field when play begins there Aug. 10.
Williams already has said she will enter the next scheduled Grand Slam tournament, the U.S. Open, which is supposed to begin in New York on Aug. 31.
She had previously confirmed her intentions to chase a 24th Grand Slam title at the US Open beginning August 31, saying that she "cannot wait" to return to the Flushing Meadows.
The US Open, which will be played behind closed-doors due to the COVID-19 pandemic, will feature the men's and women's singles main-draw events, each with the traditional 128 players, and men's and women's doubles events, with 32 teams in each competition (down from 64 teams).
(With inputs from Agencies)
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