The last way anyone would want to prepare for the defence of their Wimbledon title would be to have almost a full year of inactivity, after the double misfortune of stepping on glass in a restaurant in Munich, and developing a blood clot which travelled from her leg to her lung.
In fact, make that a triple misfortune, as she disclosed that her year of medical traumas included falling off her bike - "a pink beach cruiser" - while cycling last autumn around her Florida 'community' which had an elderly demographic.
"I wasn't obeying local traffic laws, and I was going too fast, and couldn't control the speed," she said. An ambulance was driving by, and the crew stopped and asked the Wimbledon champion, lying there in a heap by the tipped-up bike, if they could help.