Serena Williams Ready to Move On

As part of a series of promotional events at the JPMorgan Chase Open women’s tennis tournament this week, Serena Williams bobblehead dolls will be given away to the first 5,000 fans in attendance Friday at the Home Depot Center.

Williams won’t need one.

She has been shaking her head in exasperation ever since the 6-1, 6-4 defeat she received at the hands of 17-year-old Maria Sharapova in the Wimbledon women’s singles final match two weeks ago.

“I think with that one, in particular, I thought to myself, ‘What was I thinking out there?,’ ” Williams said.

“It’s kind of funny, because I realized I didn’t do anything that I planned on doing, you know, or that I had done maybe in a few other matches before. It was really actually positive, because I thought, ‘Wow, I was playing at 5%.’ ”

With practice and time to rest and relax in the ensuing weeks, Williams expects that both her health and level of play will be nearly back to 100% when she begins play in the JPMorgan Chase Open, which runs today through Sunday. For opponents, that can’t be good.

“I’m almost there,” she said. “I had major [knee] surgery a year ago and I’m back less than a year later. I’ve been working on some stuff on the court, so as long as I do well and practice by the time my main goal, which is the U.S. Open, rolls around, I’ll have a really good chance.”

Williams has won the JPMorgan Chase Open twice, in 1999 and 2000, although she hasn’t been in the tournament final since. She pulled out of last year’s event with an injured left thigh muscle and underwent surgery on her left knee soon thereafter. Returning from the injury proved difficult, as did moving forward after the shooting death of half-sister Yetunde Price last September.

“I made a really good effort, just in general. Actually, I’ve gone beyond the call of duty,” Williams said. “I don’t think that anybody really realizes what I went through, not just only on the court, but off the court as well. It really hasn’t been an easy time in my life, period.”

Williams would not speak specifically of her struggles, saying, “It’s just too difficult for me to talk about,” but she assured listeners in a media conference call this week that her attention is now sharply focused on tennis.

Typically, Serena and older sister Venus split Southern California hard-court events between them, with Serena playing the JPMorgan Chase tournament, and Venus competing in the upcoming Acura Classic in Carlsbad. This year, both women are scheduled to play in both events as they try to increase their activity and raise their rankings -- Serena is No. 14, Venus No. 15 in the WTA rankings.

Venus, a two-time Wimbledon and U.S. Open champion, will be making her first appearance in the JPMorgan Chase Open since 1997, the only other time the sisters both appeared in the event.

The combined effort by the Williamses seems sure to be a boon to the $585,000 Tier II event, which last week lost two of its top draws.

Sharapova withdrew, citing a need for “rest and recovery time” after winning Wimbledon. Jennifer Capriati withdrew because of a hamstring injury.

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JPMorgan Chase Open

* Dates: Today to Sunday.

* Prize money: $585,000.

* Winner’s purse: $93,000 (singles); $29,000 (doubles).

* Site: Home Depot Center, Carson.

* Surface: Hardcourt.

* Top seedings: 1. Serena Williams; 2. Venus Williams; 3. Lindsay Davenport; 4. Elena Dementieva; 5. Svetlana Kuznetsova; 6. Ai Sugiyama; 7. Nadia Petrova; 8. Vera Zvonareva.

* Television: Friday, 8-10 p.m. (live), ESPN2; Saturday, 7-9 p.m. (live), ESPN2; Sunday, 1-3 p.m. (live), ESPN2.

* Ticket information: (310) 630-2020.