Serena Williams recovered from a slow start to win her first game after being sidelined for nearly a year, defeating Tsvetana Pironkova 1-6, 6-3 and 6-4 Tuesday in the first round at Eastbourne.

The 13-time Grand Slam champion initially looked nothing like the player who won the 2010 Wimbledon trophy in her last tournament. His movement was uncertain, and she appeared to trust her groundstrokes or her usually dominant serve.

“I’m just so happy to be back,” said Williams, who hasn’t played since Wimbledon because of a foot injury and blood clots on her lungs.

She held for the first time 5-0 down, with the help of her time as first ace of the match. Wlliams steadied herself and reeled off the first three games of the second set to take control. Despite blowing a 2-0 lead in the final, broke again to seal the victory.

“How difficult was the first set? It wasn’t too difficult, it wasn’t long. It was over really fast and I thought, well hopefully I can get some momentum. I think I was just a little anxious and missing a tremendous amount of shots,” she added.