Serena Williams believes it's 'right time' for her return to Indian Wells

World number one women's tennis star Serena Williams has claimed that she believes it was the right time for her to return to Indian Wells, although she insisted that she never believed that she would return to the tournament after suffering crowd abuse there as a teenager.

The American tennis star would end her 14-year boycott of the BNP Paribas Open in California this week. Her father had accused fans of racial abuse after the then-19-year-old Serena was booed and heckled during the 2001 final.

Speaking ahead of her return, Serena admitted that she didn't believe that she would come back, the BBC reported.

However, Serena, who last month confirmed she would play in the tournament, said that the time felt right to return. She said that there is not one thing that said that she should come back in 2015, adding that she didn't even know if she would be playing this year.

The 19-time Grand Slam winner claimed that she just felt like it was the right time for her to come back there and try to be the best that she can be.

Serena beat Belgian Kim Clijsters in a final marred by the behaviour of some fans who heckled her and her family, apparently in response to sister Venus withdrawing injured from their semifinal. The watching Venus was also jeered by the crowd at the final.

Serena, who would face Romania's Monica Niculescu on Friday, said that the whole point of her coming back was not to necessarily focus on what happened 14 years ago.