Serena Williams' bid to win a first Olympic Games gold medal in singles has brought her to this European outpost of world tennis for her first Fed Cup assignment on foreign soil in 13 years. The 13-time Grand Slam champion already owns doubles gold achieved with sister Venus at the 2000 Sydney Games and 2008 in Beijing.
A singles title has eluded her and left her with a sense of unfinished business since losing to eventual Olympic champion Elena Dementieva in the quarter-finals in Beijing. In normal circumstances, Williams would be an automatic selection for the London Olympics, but rules state that a player must make themselves available for at least two Fed Cup ties in a four-year spell to be eligible.
Until this year, however, Williams hadn't played Fed Cup since 1997. So, after making her comeback in February's win over Belarus, the 31-year-old now finds herself spearheading the United States team in their World Group play-off against Ukraine on Saturday and Sunday.
"I think it is more huge for the media for me to win singles (at the Olympics)," Williams told the USTA website. Williams, whose last Fed Cup tie outside the United States was in 1999 when she was just 17, has a perfect 9-0 singles record in the tournament, a mark boosted by winning both her matches in the win over Belarus.
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