"'What's going on?' You've got Serena Williams on one side, Doja Cat on the other" - Williams involved in bizarre 3am hotel evacuation in Berlin

It was not all plain sailing for Serena Williams at the Berlin Ladies Open. She and her two children were forced to evacuate their Berlin hotel at 3am after a fire alarm forced everyone in the building to react.

Williams, making her return to tennis, chose the German capital as her second stop following an abrupt halt to her Queen's Club Championships after he doubles partner, Victoria Mboko, got a nasty injury. She partnered with Karolina Muchova in Berlin but would exit in the first round.

She was also caught up in a bizarre moment with her hotel the subject of a fluke fire alarm which got everyone out of bed at the unsociable hours of three in the morning. Williams, who had been travelling with her two children Olympia and Adira, had to guide them down outside and wait for the situation to be dealt with.

There was an abundance of talent staying in the hotel. Coco Gauff, Alexandra Eala and Eva Lys all saw the funny side of it after posting a photo on social media. It was not just tennis players with singer Doja Cat also forced to go outside. Berlin had been her next stop on tour.

Fortunately with her already being out of the event, the fire alarm would not dent Williams chances of success. She and Muchova would go on to lose 6-4, 6-4 against Giuliana Olmos and Erin Routliffe in the opening round of the tournament. Unlike in Queen's where she and Mboko picked up a win the first time of asking in a great showing. While the rust is still there, the American is showing her class on court and is still capable of some very special things.

The 23-time Grand Slam champion will now set her sights to Wimbledon. A highly anticipated return will see her partner up with her sister, Venus, as the golden duo make the trip back to SW19 in the ladies doubles. It is set to spark a lot of attention and intrigue with the pair having last played together at the 2022 US Open, originally Williams retirement date.

Another notable name involve in the drama was Rennae Stubbs. The six-time doubles Grand Slam champion has been coaching Williams in this period, overseeing her progress as she returns to tennis.

While speaking on The Rennae Stubbs Tennis Podcast, the Aussie explained why she did not join everyone else outside, opting to just remain in her room. "This is two weeks in a row this has happened to me," Stubbs detailed.

"It happened in London. On this occasion, I decided not to go downstairs... After 10 minutes of it going off, I texted some of the team and asked, 'Is the hotel on fire?' Because I don't think I'm going to come down."

Eventually she did join everyone else in a very bemusing scene. "I get up and put on my robe and slippers," she said. "I walk down the eight floors to the outside of the hotel. Everyone was standing out there. Not only were Serena and her two kids... Can you imagine waking up your two-year-old in the middle of the night at 3-4 in the morning? Good for Adira. She was like, 'What's going on?' You've got Serena Williams on one side, Doja Cat on the other. You've got all of us standing around. We were out there for a good 20-25 minutes."