Wimbledon: injured and in tears, Serena Williams gives up in the first round

Published on : 06/29/2021 – 9:32 PM

Seven times titled at Wimbledon, still a finalist in 2019 in the last edition of the grass tournament, Serena Williams stops in the first round this year. The world n ° 8, seeded n ° 6, entered the competition on Tuesday June 29 against Aliaksandra Sasnovich, 100th player in the world.

The meeting ended prematurely and in tears for Serena Williams. At the heart of the first set, the American fell in the fourth game. Hit in the left ankle, she left the court limping to receive treatment in the locker room. The champion, who also wore a big bandage around her right thigh, tried to resume the match at 3-3. But after just three games, she had to bring herself to give up.

Serena Williams, 40 in September, is still aiming for a 24th Grand Slam title to equal the record set by Margaret Court. Until Tuesday, she had only given up once in a Grand Slam meeting. It was already at Wimbledon, in 1998, in the round of 16 against the Spaniard Arantxa Sanchez.

Faced with the distress of the American player, in tears at the moment of slipping away, the audience addressed a standing ovation to her. Her last major success dates back to the 2017 Australian Open, before she retired to give birth to her first child. Since her return in mid-2018, Serena Williams has lost twice in the final at Wimbledon (2018 and 2019) and twice in the final at the US Open (2018 and 2019).