Serena Williams will be able to defend her US Open title after recovering from the virus which took her out of the Wimbledon tournament earlier this year. The world number one, aged 32, had to end her doubles match with sister Venus earlier this month after struggling to serve. Some said that she was either drunk or on drugs during that match but the official explanation was that she had a virus. She makes her return on the WTA tour at the Bank of the West Classic at Stanford University on Wednesday and will surely be ready for the US Open on 25 August.

She said: “I feel very good. I feel very happy to be here, so it’s good.” Williams was beaten in the third round of the singles at Wimbledon by Alize Cornet, before pulling out from the doubles a few days later. “They just said I was really ill, and really under the weather and I just wasn’t doing very well,” Williams said. “I was really scared after because I didn’t realize how I felt until later and it’s just, you know, ‘Serena, keep your time, you will have the rest of your life to keep playing tennis hopefully.’ I didn’t leave my house or my bed for a few days.”

Williams has won at least two major tournaments in four of the past five years, but has not won any this season. She lost in the fourth round at the Australian Open, then left the French Open after just two rounds and then was knocked out by Cornet in the third round at Wimbledon. She has won the US Open five times, including the last two editions.

Here are the outright odds at Bet365 for the women’s US Open:

Serena Williams – 15/8
Victoria Azarenka – 11/2
Maria Sharapova – 11/2
Simona Halep – 8/1
Eugenie Bouchard – 8/1