Serena Williams hailed her comeback match against Jelena Ostapenko as "perfect" but stopped short of committing to a defence of her Australian Open title.
The 23-time grand slam singles champion was back on court for an exhibition clash with French Open champion Ostapenko less than four months after giving birth to daughter Alexis Olympia.
Williams struggled to start with, rolling in serves and moving sluggishly, but grew into the challenge and, despite losing 6-2 3-6 10-5, there was more than enough in her performance to send a message to her rivals that she will quickly be a force to be reckoned with.
The 36-year-old said in a press conference shown on sport360.com: "I've had a lot of comebacks from foot surgeries, knees, but I've never had a comeback from actually giving birth to a human being.
"So in my eyes I feel like it was a wonderful match for me. I just am really proud of being out here, being able to compete.
"I had a ton of trepidation out there, but as the match moved on I was less afraid; I'm not going to fall over and break, I'm going to be okay, and the more I played, the more confident I felt.
"This was a wonderful opportunity to test where I am not only...
