After a two-month hiatus from the public spotlight, Serena Williams' self-announced return not only elevated her to superhero status, but also earned her a free lunch.

An employee at Mission Chinese, a restaurant in San Francisco, said the eatery picked up the tab for Serena' lunch, following her ordeal with a man she said tried to steal her cell phone before she ran him down and retrieved it, NBC Bay Area reported.

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"We were all apologetic and she was like 'don't worry,'" Lindsay Pfeiffer, an employee at Mission Chinese, told NBC Bay Area. "I comped her chicken wings and comped all her drinks."

The 34-year-old and top-ranked female tennis player in the world posted her account of the events on Facebook with the message for women to follow their instincts in times of crises.

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"Always keep your things close," she wrote. "Fight for what's right. Stand for what you believe in! Be a superhero!"

San Francisco police, however, cautioned the public about Williams' message.

Officer Grace Gatpandan told The Associated Press that Williams should file a police report so that police could try to find out whether they are dealing with a serial cell phone thief.

And while Williams did get her cell phone back when she chased after the man, her actions were contrary to the police's recommendation of how to handle the situation.

Gatpandan said police try to discourage theft victims from track down cell phone thieves themselves.

"The thing with cellphone snatchers is you don't know who you're dealing with," the officer said. "You don't know if they're a serial thief. You don't know if they're armed."

Regardless, consider the incident a happy return for Williams to the news cycle after leaving the public eye under the dubious circumstances of losing to Roberta Vinci in the U.S. Open semifinals to end her dreams of a calendar Grand Slam and breaking up with rumored boyfriend Drake.

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