Serena Williams to play full schedule before US Open

Serena Williams has accepted a wildcard into the Coupe Rogers in Montreal, having already entered events in San Jose and Cincinnati.

This will be the first time since 2014 that Williams has played three North American hard-court tournaments leading into the US Open.

Her most recent competitive appearance was at Wimbledon, where she reached the final in just her fourth tournament back after maternity leave.

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Serena is now entered in San Jose, Montreal, and Cincinnati. Would be remarkable if she actually played all three back-to-back-to-back, given her scant scheduling lately. https://t.co/xcemOfJGp5

— Ben Rothenberg (@BenRothenberg) July 24, 2018

That result has helped push the 23-time Grand Slam champion back up to world No.27.

“After announcing our player list a few weeks ago, we were only missing Serena to complete our dream tournament,” revealed Montreal tournament director Eugène Lapierre.

“Serena has impressed everyone with the speed at which she was able to return to a high level of play. She has always been a fighter and she is proving it once again.

“I know that the fans will be happy to see her in action in Montreal. We are looking forward to welcoming her back.”

Those "top-20" wild cards have probably rarely been put to better use, as the Rogers Cup first added former No. 1 Azarenka, and now confirms Serena W with the second WC.

— Tennis.Life (@tennislifenews) July 24, 2018

It was initially unclear exactly how Williams’ schedule would look after Wimbledon.

The 36-year-old did offer a somewhat opaque – yet ominous – warning that she was not content to simply sit back and enjoy the achievement of reaching a Grand Slam final so soon into her comeback.

“I feel like I have a ways to go. This is literally just the beginning. It’s good to just continue that path and just continue to keep going for me,” the American said after losing in straight sets to Angelique Kerber at SW19.

“I definitely am going to continue to play and just work on my game, work on staying in there.”

Stars’ schedules take shape

Williams will continue her comeback at the San Jose event – replacing the long-running WTA tournament in Stanford – which kicks off on 30 July.

Among the field at the Premier-level event is Garbine Muguruza, who was announced as the latest high-profile entry on Monday.

Muguruza and Serena will be joined by Venus Williams, Victoria Azarenka, Madison Keys and CoCo Vandeweghe.

Meanwhile, world No.1 Simona Halep has taken a wildcard compete in the Connecticut Open in New Haven in the week before the US Open.

See you soon @connecticutopen. Can’t wait to come back to New Haven ???????? https://t.co/c2rdRiWeog

— Simona Halep (@Simona_Halep) July 24, 2018

The Romanian, who won her first Grand Slam title at the French Open in June, will play in New Haven for the first time since 2014.

She joins fellow top-10 players Petra Kvitova and Caroline Garcia in the field, plus former world No.2 Agnieszka Radwanska and former world No.4s Dominika Cibulkova and Johanna Konta.