Serena Williams returns to the tennis court

Serena Williams hit the court publicly for the first time since the birth of her daughter over the weekend, raising awareness for a cause near and dear to her and her family.

Alongside Venus, the sisters hosted “A Family Affair” event at the Southeast Tennis and Learning Center (SETLC) in Washington, D.C. 

Presented by Oath, the event brought tennis and awareness of violence to the D.C. metro area, raising money for the Yetunde Price Resource Center, which is based in Compton. 

The sisters also participated in a panel, hosted by ESPN's Jemele Hill, to discuss the direct impact of violence on their family. 

The oldest sister of Serena and Venus, Yetunde Price, was killed by a drive-by shooting on Sept. 14, 2003, in Compton, Calif.

The sisters launched the Yetunde Price Resource Center in 2016, which "assists individuals adversely affected by community violence to identify, access and utilize support services that already exist in the community."

"Violence has affected our lives personally — we lost our sister, she was the oldest — to violence," said an emotional Serena, as reported by Kelley L. Carter of ESPN's The Undefeated.

"There’s a lot of times where people are in the communities and they don’t have a place or an area or somewhere they can go to put that energy – to get some of that negative energy out and be creative."

Added Venus: "It’s been a wonderful experience to be a part of the Yetunde Price Resource Center...Just by doing something positive with your life...you motivate others and then those others actually motivate you to do better. It becomes this circle of positivity.”

The sisters eventually joined in for a little bit of tennis, marking the first time Serena appeared on court in a public capacity since the September birth of Alexis Olympia Ohanian, Jr., and her wedding to Reddit co-founder, Alexis Ohanian.