Title-holder Serena Williams will open her defence at the Bank of the West Classic on Wednesday against a teenager who once served as her ballgirl.
Last weekend’s Wimbledon singles and doubles champion Williams, second seed and 2009 winner Marion Bartoli, third seed Slovak Dominika Cibulkova and fourth seed Jelena Jankovic all have first-round byes.
The top seed will play 19-year-old Stanford student Nicole Gibbs, who won as she played the first WTA main draw match of her career, beating Thai qualifier Noppawan Lertcheewakarn 6-4 6-4 on Tuesday.
Gibbs, winner of a summer Futures title in Denver, once had a brief hit seven years ago with both Serena and Venus Williams during an exhibition in Cleveland.
“It was the best five minutes of my life,” said the awe-struck No.403, who has vowed to try to make it a competitive match against Williams, now back to a No.4 ranking.
“This is everything – this is a dream already. I’ve not yet had a top-100 win, but it will be great to be on court with someone so accomplished and see where my game is. I couldn’t have any less pressure. It’s an experience which I have to enjoy and present myself as competitive in that match.”
Williams said she has not had time to ponder the Wimbledon heroics that produced a fifth singles title, a third in doubles with sister Venus and ran her career singles total to 14 at the majors.
“I haven’t had a lot of time to process anything,” the American said. “I don’t know where I am now. I haven’t reflected on what I did. I watched at least five movies on the plane, like The Hunger Games. That kept me away from too much reflection.”
After a stunning first-round loss on the Paris clay a fortnight earlier, Williams was quietly pleased after bouncing back for the grasscourt title. She confessed the Roland Garros defeat was the worst she had experienced.
Far from being tired after her Wimbledon adventure, she said she was invigorated: “It was a super-hectic two weeks, the most hectic ever. But with the way that I’m feeling, I really wanted to get on that plane and come here.”
The 30-year-old pronounced herself in the best shape of her life and eager to defend her title during a hardcourt interlude before the July 28 start of the Olympic tournament on grass at the All England club.
“Coming straight over to play was the best thing that I could have done. I’m feeling amazing and healthy. As long as it’s like that, I need to keep playing.”
Williams will present a fashion line next week and then travel to her flat in Paris before returning to London for the Olympics, which open on July 27.
Elsewhere at Stanford, New Zealand’s Marina Erakovic, the eighth seed, won a first-round match with Slovak Jana Juricova 6-2 6-2.