Serena Williams has announced that she will return to the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells this year, a tournament she won twice but hasn’t played for 14 years until now.
Serena made the announcement in an exclusive for TIME Magazine on Wednesday, discussing everything from her happy memories from the tournament, her devastating experiences there in 2001 and now, after 14 years, what brought her to the decision to make her long-awaited return there.
“It has been difficult for me to forget spending hours crying in the Indian Wells locker room after winning in 2001, driving back to Los Angeles feeling as if I had lost the biggest game ever, not a mere tennis game but a bigger fight for equality,” Williams wrote in her exclusive piece for TIME.
“I’m fortunate to be at a point in my career where I have nothing to prove. I’m still as driven as ever, but the ride is a little easier.
“I play for the love of the game. And it is with that love in mind, and a new understanding of the true meaning of forgiveness, that I will proudly return to Indian Wells in 2015.”