Singapore, Dec 7 (IANS): Serbian star Ana Ivanovic has joined the UAE Royals for the Singapore leg of the International Premier Tennis League (ITPL) on Wednesday.

"It's lovely to be back in Singapore. I have really nice memories from here, specially from 2014," Ivanovic, who qualified for the WTA Finals two years ago and competed at the Singapore Indoor Stadium that is playing host to the IPTL second leg this week, said.

The former world number one and 2008 French Open champion missed the first leg of the ITPL in Japan. 

Ivanovic was a part of the Indian Aces team that won the inaugural IPTL tournament in 2014. She moved to the UAE Royals for the second season and joined the Emirati side on Wednesday.

It has been a long layoff for the winner of 15 WTA titles, who pulled the plug early on her 2016 season to recover from a recurring wrist injury after the US Open and has now made a return to the courts for the first time in three months.

"It was my first match after a long time and it was quite challenging so I hope I can improve little by little in the next few matches," Ivanovic was quoted as saying in a statement on Wednesday.

Swiss star Martina Hingis is the other woman player in the UAE Royals squad.