Serena Williams' daughters see how hard she's working for Wimbledon return

Serena Williams keeps on commenting half-jokingly about how “it’s summer” and “the kids aren’t in school” as the reasoning for her tennis comeback at age 44.

Turns out family might really be the biggest factor behind Williams’ decision to return to the pro game after nearly four years away.

Her two daughters, eight-year-old Olympia and Adira, who is almost three, have been with her every step of the way as she played two doubles warmup matches before accepting wild card invitations to both the singles and doubles (with older sister Venus) competitions at Wimbledon, which starts Monday.

“Just finished a mean game of duck duck goose,” Williams said on X shortly after her singles wild card was announced last weekend.

A big hint about Williams’ return came when she posted a video of a training session last month with Adira on court helping with a resistance band.

“Rumor has it…I got a new trainer,” Williams said in her Instagram caption.

Christopher Eubanks, a recently retired pro turned Tennis Channel commentator, saw up close how Williams interacted with her family at her first tournament back at Queen’s Club, where he performed an on-court interview with the American great and doubles partner Victoria Mboko.

“There’s no changes to her legacy that will come as a result of this return. I don’t see anyone changing their mind about where Serena Williams stands all-time,” Eubanks told The Associated Press on Thursday of the 23-time Grand Slam singles champion.

“This is about more than just records. At this point, it’s more about family," said Eubanks, who will be working for ESPN at Wimbledon. "Not just playing in front of her daughters, but having her daughters sit there and watch her train every day and have to wake up and put in the long, hard yards and doing fitness and doing treatment. For her daughters to have to watch her be super disciplined, that has to be just as much of a factor."

When Williams last played in singles at the 2022 U.S. Open, Olympia had just turned five and Adira wasn’t even born yet.

“They will forever know (Williams) as, ‘Oh, you know, mommy is the GOAT of tennis,’" Eubanks said, using the acronym for “greatest of all time.”

"But then if they have memories of being able to actually watch her go through that training, to me, that feels like what this is about more than anything else,” Eubanks added.

He seems to be on to something, because the daughters did not seem overly enthusiastic about her match at Queen’s.

“Adira wanted to go to the toy store, and Olympia wanted to know what was for dinner,” Williams said.

Eubanks had a court-side seat for Williams’ match with Mboko and felt like her ball striking was “as good as it’s ever looked.”

He was also “really impressed with her serve."

“A lot of times that can be a very difficult thing to get back after having an extended time off and her serve looked great,” Eubanks said. “She had one serve up near 120 mph. And the purity with which the ball comes off of her strings off the ground on both the forehand and the backhand side looks as dialed in as I’ve seen.”

The biggest challenge for Williams in singles will likely be her fitness and movement, which on grass is more nuanced than on other surfaces.

“The hardest part for me I always felt was the decelerating and the stopping because you have to take extra steps in order to come to a stop,” said Eubanks, who reached the Wimbledon quarterfinals in 2023 and a career-high ranking of No. 29 that year.

Williams won the last of her seven Wimbledon singles titles a decade ago

“Whereas on a hard court you can kind of plant your foot, you can slide, you can decelerate a lot easier," Eubanks said. "But on the grass it takes a lot more steps and a lot more pounding on the body before you can change direction. So that’s going to be the biggest thing to watch: Her ability to decelerate and stop out of the corners in order to change direction.”

Williams might come forward to the net more and attempt to end points more quickly than she used to — kind of how Novak Djokovic has used his volleying skills more in recent years.

“That would be," Eubanks said, “what I would expect to see.”

Eubanks is only 30 and the Williams sisters were role models for him as a kid.

“They were always kind of the guiding light,” he said. “They’ve been a huge influence on me personally.”

Before last month's French Open, Eubanks was invited to a dinner for Black players hosted by Naomi Osaka and Taylor Townsend.

Coco Gauff, retiring Frenchman Gael Monfils and doubles specialist Asia Muhammad also attended.

The Williams sisters and their father, Richard Williams, were a big conversation topic.

“Everybody in that room, at some point their parents were heavily involved in their tennis,” Eubanks said. “Our parents all mentioned Richard Williams and the Williams sisters and how they did it and everyone kind of bonding over, ‘Man, Richard Williams, his name went all over the world.’”

AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis

Serena Williams of the United States attends a practice session ahead of the Wimbledon Tennis Championships, in London, Wednesday, June 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

Serena Williams of the United States smiles after a training session at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, ahead of the Wimbledon Championships in London, Thursday, June 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)

Serena Williams of the United States attends a practice session ahead of the Wimbledon Tennis Championships, in London, Wednesday, June 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

Serena Williams of the United States arrives at a training session at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, ahead of the Wimbledon Championships in London, Thursday, June 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)

Serena Williams of the United States wipes sweat during a practice session ahead of the Wimbledon Tennis Championships, in London, Wednesday, June 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

DORAL, Fla. (AP) — Venezuelans in the U.S. rushed to organize donation drives Thursday after devastating earthquakes that officials say killed at least 188 people and injured hundreds more in their home country. The United States government and other countries also pledged aid.

Oscar Torres and thousands of others spent the last 24 hours keeping up with a flurry of messages posted to a WhatsApp group that connects people in Venezuela with their families. He lives in Doral, Florida, a city outside Miami that's home to the largest Venezuelan population in the U.S.

“Already this morning, I was looking at the group in Doral and everybody’s pitching in — money, medicine, water. First, necessity items,” said Torres, a sales manager who moved to the U.S. from Venezuela in 1995. “They’re talking about making the first shipment ASA

In Washington, the Trump administration said it’s sending $150 million to support relief efforts by aid groups and the United Nations, according to a U.S. State Department news release.

Meanwhile, the U.S. government was mobilizing a disaster response team to Venezuela that includes two urban search and rescue teams from fire departments in Fairfax County, Virginia, and Los Angeles. The U.S. military, which seized Venezuela's then-president Nicolas Maduro in a surprise January drug arrest, will provide aircraft to help assess damage, assist searches and deliver aid.

Other countries including Mexico and Colombia also promised assistance.

The 7.2- and 7.5-magnitude earthquakes Wednesday night caused severe damage to the country’s main airport in the capital of Caracas, which could hamper efforts to get aid into the country quickly. The quakes were among the strongest in Venezuela in more than a century.

In photos of the aftermath, injured children, animals and civilians covered in dust and blood were pulled out of concrete rubble.

In addition to those killed and injured, thousands more were missing — leaving many families members in the U.S. scrambling for updates. More than 770,000 Venezuelans live in the U.S., with large communities settling in Texas and Utah, in addition to Florida.

In the Houston area, home to a large Venezuelan community, residents used community Facebook groups and other social media to spread the word about local donation sites. First aid and medical supplies such as gauze, bandages, antiseptics, disposable gloves, face masks, syringes, thermometers and blood pressure monitors all were in demand.

Local resident Daniel Arenas translated a Spanish-language post into English and shared it Thursday on his LinkedIn page hoping people across Houston would step up and donate.

“I came to this country 10 years ago, built a life here, but my heart is still in Venezuela,” Arenas said. “It’s devastating what’s happening over there. They don’t have the resources to handle this.”

Arenas, a maritime industry consultant, said that his wife is concerned about her aunt, who lives in a high-rise apartment in Caracas and sent a distraught message on WhatsApp after the quakes hit.

“She was crying and screaming and saying she was in pain but not sure from where,” Arenas said. “She said she lost everything. She was desperate.”

Arenas said his wife was later able to reach her aunt.

Many of the sites mobilizing donations are in Katy, a suburb about 30 miles (48 km) west of downtown Houston that’s earned the nickname “Katyzuela” because of its high concentration of Venezuelans.

Luis Angarita, who lives in Katy, said his younger sister and family were forced to sleep outside in a park after their home was damaged in the mountain community of Caribia, some 6 miles (10 kilometers) northwest of Caracas.

Angarita’s sister told him in a WhatsApp message that she’s trying to get everyone to their father’s home on the other side of the capital. But no taxis or buses are running and roads leading out of their mountain community are closed.

“Thank God they’re safe,” Angarita said in Spanish. “There are many displaced people and others are stuck in their homes, unable to leave. They need help.”

In Florida, workers for the Doral-based aid group Global Empowerment Mission on Thursday packed medical supplies, toiletries, cases of bottled water and nonperishable foods to be sent to Venezuela.

Despite damage to airports and roads, the aid group doesn’t foresee delays getting supplies into Venezuela, said Billy Richardson, the group’s U.S. logistics director.

“Sometimes it means using other airports, other means of transport, or even coming into other countries,” Richardson said by email.

Torres planned to contribute money for relief efforts. He still has uncles and cousins who live in Caracas and Valencia, another hard-hit Venezuelan city. He said some of them were injured as they fled buildings during the quakes.

“Their homes are destroyed and a few buildings have collapsed,” Torres said. “Thankfully, I don’t know anyone who passed away.”

Bynum reported from Savannah, Georgia. Marcelo reported from New York.

People take goods from damaged stores a day after earthquakes and aftershocks struck Catia La Mar, Venezuela, Thursday, June 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Jonathan Lanza)

Neighbors comfort Gabriela Rojas, center, as she mourns in front of her damaged home, where two of her children died during earthquakes that struck La Guaira, Venezuela, Thursday, June 25, 2026.. (AP Photo/Pedro Mattey)

Residents help to remove rubble from a collapsed building in Caracas, Venezuela, Thursday, June 25, 2026, a day after successive powerful earthquakes struck the country. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)

Patients lie outside a hospital evacuated after it was damaged in an earthquake in Catia La Mar, Venezuela, Thursday, June 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Pedro Mattey)

People sleep in the streets a day after an earthquake and several aftershocks struck Caracas, Venezuela, Thursday, June 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)

Residents walk among the rubble of building damaged in earthquakes the previous day in Catia La Mar, Venezuela, Thursday, June 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Pedro Mattey)

Volunteers are seen packaging supplies, Thursday, June 25, 2026, in Doral, Fla. (AP Photo/Cody Jackson)