Wimbledon 2021: Serena Williams suffers teary 1st round injury exit to Aliaksandra Sasnovich
United States of America’s Serena Williams vied for her record-equalling 24th Grand Slam title in Wimbledon 2021. However, an apparent thigh and ankle injury led her to pull out during her first-round match, thus handing Belarus’s Aliaksandra Sasnovich the win.
FollowSerena Williams of the United States of America’s bid for her record-equalling 24th Grand Slam title took yet another jolt after she was forced to retire during the first round match against Aliaksandra Sasnovich of Belarus on Tuesday. She apparently suffered an ankle injury while she was already having some troubles with her thigh.
Serena was off to a decent start in the opening set, as she had earned a break and was 3-1 up. However, supposedly, a mild slip on the baseline grass hurt her ankle as she was seen limping after Sasnovich broke her back while she called for the trainer and took a ten-minute injury break.
However, she was in visible discomfort after her return, as she failed even to get her serves right, while her feet movements were restricted. Playing for a point in the seventh game of the first set, she collapsed on the baseline as she shrieked in pain, kneeling with her head down on the grass. The chair umpire checked on her before Serena decided to give a walkover and was in tears throughout since returning from the injury break.
“I was heartbroken to have to withdraw today after injuring my right leg. My love and gratitude are with the fans and the team who make being on Centre Court so meaningful. Feeling the extraordinary warmth and support of the crowd when I walked on - and off - the court meant the world to me,” Serena later said in an Instagram post.
Meanwhile, as Sasnovich qualified for the second round, she said, “It was such a nice atmosphere here, my first time on Centre Court. Thank you everyone. But I am so sad for Serena. She’s a great champion, but this happens sometimes in tennis. I wish all the best for her and a good recovery.”
“I was happy to play against her. She’s a great champion. She has a lot of slams. It was a dream of my dad. He dreamed for eight years in a row, he just wrote me before the match, that I would play with Serena in Wimbledon, and, yeah, it happens,” she continued.
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“Of course, I wanted to play the full match, but it’s tennis. It happens. It’s injury. Of course, I was ready to play 100 per cent today. I was ready mentally. I was ready strategically. I was ready physically. I was thinking before the match, just go and enjoy the tennis, enjoy the atmosphere,” she concluded.
Meanwhile, some tennis stars and experts expressed their concerns regarding the slippery nature of the grass during rains, especially under the roof, which might have led to Serena’s injury. “Brutal for @serenawilliams, but centre court is extremely slippy out there. Not easy to move out there,” said two-time Wimbledon champion Andy Murray in a tweet.
Also, record eight-time Wimbledon champion Roger Federer expressed his concern on the same by saying, “Oh, my God, I can’t believe it. It’s obviously terrible that it’s back-to-back matches and it hits Serena as well. You do have to move very, very carefully out there. If you push too hard in the wrong moments, you do go down.”
He related to his first-round match against Frenchman Adrian Mannarino, as the latter twisted his knee in the fifth set to give a walkover. “It’s awful; it shows that one shot can change the outcome of a match, a season, or a career. He was the better player, so I was a bit lucky,” he added, reports The Guardian.
“I just slid down as it was really slippery. I heard a big crack and I knew straight away that I wouldn’t be able to do anything anymore. I’m not used to playing on Wimbledon Centre Court. I didn’t have much time to practise before the match and the court definitely looked slippery to me. I was not feeling great. Every time I tried to push on my feet or change direction, I was not comfortable with that,” said Mannarino following his walkover.
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