INDIAN WELLS, California -- There was a point this week when nerves took over and Serena Williams panicked, admitting Thursday, "I thought, 'What was I thinking?'"
If she needs a pep talk, she might want to seek out her fellow pros who spoke in support of her much-anticipated return to Indian Wells, beginning with Monica Niculescu, her opening opponent here on Friday night.
"This match is for her, she does this every day and she has so many titles, I don't even know how many she has," the 27-year-old Romanian said of the 19-time Grand Slam winner. "I think it will be a really warm welcome here. I mean, come on, it's Serena."
Williams' appearance on center court at the Tennis Garden will be the first since March 17, 2001, when she won the singles title here at age 19 with a three-set victory over Kim Clijsters. Williams had reached the championship match by way of a much-debated, last-minute default by her sister Venus in the semifinals.
The final was marred by what their father, Richard, described as racial abuse by fans who cheered Serena's mistakes and jeered the points she won.
Williams, 33, who along with Venus said she would never return to a tournament situated just two hours away from Compton, California, where their father taught them the game, said she hasn't watched the match since.
"I remember sitting down and praying," she said. "I think I was losing, actually, in the first set and I said, 'I don't want to win this match. I just want to get through this moment.' I don't know what happened. I just won after that."
Niculescu, ranked 68th in the world, was just 13 in 2001 and said she didn't know what happened back then.
"I know she hasn't played for a long time here," she said. "She's an unbelievable player. Who would not like to see her? You always watch her in the finals and cheer for her and she's always winning and she's No. 1 for how many years? I think they will love her. I mean, come on, who's going to boo her? I don't know. Come on. She's an awesome player."
Niculescu has never played Williams in singles, but lost in straight sets to Serena and Venus in doubles with partner Yung-Jan Chan in 2009.
In singles, Niculescu is best known for an unconventional slice forehand she uses on nearly every opportunity, a shot a New York Times poll termed "the strangest shot in women's tennis," and a shot she is hoping might at least temporarily distract Williams Friday.
"It's very hard to play against me because I'm tricky all the time," Niculescu said. "I'm changing my speed, my slice, I come to the net with a drop shot and it's hard to have a rhythm against me. What I know is it's not easy to play against me. ...
"I like to be unique and I think I am, and hopefully it's going to work in the evening with Serena."
Williams said Venus, her mother and even her father encouraged her to return to the tournament, but that didn't quell her nerves. She said she spent an extra day in L.A. before traveling to Indian Wells.
"I'm like, 'I'm just not ready yet. I'm not ready yet.' I had to just overcome that,'" she said.
Now, she said, she is anxious to get started.
"I'm looking forward actually to stepping out on center court and letting the whole world know that it doesn't matter what you face, if it's something that wasn't right, hurt you, hurt your family, you can just come out and be strong and say, 'I'm still going to be here. I'm still going to survive. I'm still going to be the best person I can be,'" Williams said.
Longtime adversary Maria Sharapova joined the chorus of welcome-back greetings this week, saying Serena's return was good for tennis and that to be the best, it's necessary to play the best. But Sharapova went even further.
"I admire the fact that even though she's been able to achieve everything that she has, that she still has the passion and desire to keep getting better," she said. "From just a woman's perspective, especially at her age, not that she's old or anything, but at one point when you've achieved so much and you're so good at what you do, there's always an easier option or an easier way.
"And she's chosen the toughest way and I really admire that because it takes a lot of work and a lot of sacrifice to do what we do."
Williams said her decision to return to Indian Wells was "good timing" for her and "for Americans in general." And if she's not accepted by as many fans as she would like, she said, she simply can't dwell on it.
"You're always going to have fans and always going to have people that, well, for lack of a better word, aren't as big of a fan," she said. "But I think it's really important to accept you for who you are yourself. Not everyone is going to accept you. I think if you do go through your life wanting everyone to accept you, that can cause a whole other set of issues."