STANFORD, Calif. — Making her first public appearance since an unsettling incident at Wimbledon that saw the 17-time Grand Slam champion appear dazed and confused on the court, Serena Williams returned to the WTA Tour on Monday at the Bank of the West Classic, where she insisted she is back in good health.

“I was really, really sick,” said Williams, a two-time titlist at Stanford in 2011 and 2012.  “Literally, the next three days I couldn’t get out of bed.  Usually, when you lose a tournament, you leave.  You don’t want to be around.  Most people don’t want to be around the surroundings.  You leave. I literally stayed until the tournament ended because I was not actually allowed to leave.  The doctors told me, ‘Don’t leave.  You cannot.  You’ve just got to stay.’”

“I was really scared after,” she continued.

The bizarre display, which rendered Serena unable to continue her second-round doubles match with her sister, Venus, left fans, commentators and even fellow players wondering if there were more to the story than just a garden-variety illness.  Rumors swirled.  Was Serena pregnant, as the German daily Bild suggested?  Was she knowingly or unknowingly under the influence of a mystery substance?  Was this a serious illness?  Former player and commentator Martina Navratilova even asserted: “I think virus, whatever they're saying it was, I don't think that was it. I think it's clear that's not the case.”  But no matter how desperately people attempted to fill in the blanks, Williams insists she didn’t get caught up in the speculation.

“I heard a lot of the response weeks and weeks and weeks later, because I didn’t leave my house or my bed for a few days,” she explained.  “By the time I read about it or heard about it from other people, I was just like, ‘Oh, really?’  I had already moved on…I didn’t meditate or think about it too long.”

According to Williams, she never received a full diagnosis from her doctors.

“They just said I was really ill and really under the weather,” said the world No. 1, who remained in Europe for a brief vacation following Wimbledon and later traveled to Toronto, where she reportedly worked on a movie.  “I have to get a lot of tests done because of things that do run in the family, so I just want to make sure I’m okay.”

But those tests, she says, will have to wait until the 2014 tennis calendar comes to a close.  For now, she’ll focus on the pursuit of her first Slam crown of the year.  And Stanford could just prove to be an ideal launching point.  It was here in 2011, after all, that Williams put her last major health challenges behind her.  In just her third tournament since returning from a pair of foot surgeries and a pulmonary embolism, she stepped back into the winner’s circle with a back-in-business triumph over Marion Bartoli.   She would go on to reach the US Open final that year.  Could Stanford again be a turning point?

“I feel really good about this event and this tournament and being here,” said the top seeded Williams.  “It’s always been a special place for me.”

(Photo: Getty Images Europe)