Knee problem or not, Serena Williams returns to French Open

Welcome back to Paris, Serena Williams. The tennis world can’t wait to find out exactly how that bothersome left knee is doing.

Williams practiced at the French Open’s redesigned main stadium Monday — alas, Court Philippe Chatrier’s retractable roof won’t be ready until next year — and will want to get in some more work over the coming days, given how little she has played on clay courts lately.

As in: a total of one match on the surface since last year’s tournament at Roland Garros. Forever, it seems, Williams has been the woman to beat on the Grand Slam stage, provided she is in the field and is healthy. No one really knows this time just how ready she is.

“We just don’t know her physical status at this point,” 18-time major champion Chris Evert said in a telephone interview. “She relies so much on the physicality of her game and her movement and her sprinting and just her court coverage and setting up those big shots. Her legs are vital to her game. I don’t know if we’ve seen her 100 percent since the beginning of the year.”

With the French Open set to start Sunday, Williams (ranked 10th) has played only nine matches in 2019.

Five were at the Australian Open in January, when she lost to Karolina Pliskova in the quarterfinals after blowing a 5-1, 40-30 lead in the third set and four match points in all.

Williams retired from a match at Indian Wells (Riverside County), citing an illness, then withdrew from tournaments in Miami and Rome, citing her knee.

“I haven’t played a ton of matches this year. Not my choice; just by force,” Williams said after her lone clay appearance, an opening victory at the Italian Open before she pulled out ahead of what would have been a match against her older sister, Venus. “I really, really actually...