Agonising exit for Serena as her record bid is dashed by slip
SERENA WILLIAMS left Centre Court in tears last night after her latest bid to equal the Grand Slam singles record was ended by injury.
The American superstar slipped and twisted her left ankle while 3-1 up in the first set against world No.100 Aliaksandra Sasnovich.
It happened at the same end where Adrian Mannarino had earlier suffered a knee injury against Roger Federer. Williams tried to carry on through tears after a medical timeout but collapsed on
the court in agony before admitting painful defeat.
Andy Murray tweeted: “Brutal for Serena Williams but centre court is extremely slippy. Not easy to move out there.”
Williams won her 23rd and last Grand Slam singles title at the 2017 Australian Open. In 12 Majors since, she has reached four finals – including at Wimbledon in 2019 – but has failed to win a set.
The seven-time Wimbledon champion had a great chance to finally equal Margaret Court’s record of 24 here this year with defending champion Simona Halep and Naomi Osaka out. But instead she went out in the Wimbledon first round for the first time.
And with Williams turning 40 in September, she could have played her last match at SW19. Earlier, Federer admitted he got “lucky” after Mannarino slipped in the fourth set. The French left-hander was forced to retire with the score at 6-4 6-7 3-6 6-2.
“He could have won the match – he was the better player – so I definitely got a bit lucky,” said Federer. The Centre Court roof had remained closed all day even after the rain stopped yesterday evening. The Swiss, above, was later told of Williams’ injury during his post-match press conference.
“This is terrible that it’s back-to-back matches and it hits Serena as well,” he said. “Oh, my God, I can’t believe it.
“I do feel it feels a tad more slippery maybe under the roof. If you push too hard in the wrong moments, you do go down.”
Wild card Venus Williams recorded her 90th Wimbledon win at the age of 41 by beating Mihaela Buzarnescu 7-5 4-6 6-3.