Monday began with tennis fans looking forward to the mouth-watering fourth round clash between Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova at the French Open. However, by the end of the day, the big question was whether Serena will be fit to play at Wimbledon this year.
The former World number one had to pull out of her match against Sharapova telling reporters that “I’ve unfortunately been having issues with my pec muscle and unfortunately it’s been getting worse.”
The injury has reached the point where Williams is unable to serve so taking on Sharapova simply wasn’t on the cards for the American, who had been on court on Sunday playing in the doubles with her sister Venus, who is already out of the singles.
Williams added that her injury was sustained during the French Open tournament, “The first time I felt it was against Goerges in my last match. That’s when I started to feel it. It was really painful, and I didn’t know what it was.”
Serena Williams called her injury “extremely disappointing.” | Christophe Ena/AP Photo
Serena, who gave birth to her daughter last September, was playing in her first Grand Slam tournament of the year having missed January’s Australian Open. Her form since returning to the WTA circuit hadn’t been of her usual standard but there had been signs in this tournament that she was getting back to her former championship winning self and had beaten number 17 seed Ashleigh Barty and 11th seed Julia Georges on her way to the fourth-round clash with Maria Sharapova.
Having missed so much time on the court, Serena entered both the singles and doubles tournaments and the schedule seems to have been too much for her. During her doubles match on Sunday which she and Venus lost to the third seeds María José Martínez Sánchez and Andreja Klepac losing the final set 6-0. Williams tried a variation of tapings and supports in an attempt to counter her problem but despite not having to be continually serving, the injury didn’t get any better forcing her withdrawal from the tournament rather than risk the injury getting even worse.
With her French Open over, the focus now switches to just how serious her injury is and whether she will be fit to play at Wimbledon. Williams will be staying on in Paris to have an MRI today and then more will be known of her injury and just how serious it is.
WATCH: Serena Williams explains why she has had to pull out of the #FrenchOpen https://t.co/CRlRUTHv8j
— Sky Sports News (@SkySportsNews) June 4, 2018
One factor in her favour is that there is now a longer gap between the French Open and the Wimbledon Championships that begin on July 2. However, Williams is way down the world rankings at present and the All-England committee have to decide what to do with the American re seeding. It’s possible, that the former champion may even have to qualify for the tournament. Maria Sharapova was in a similar situation last year and would have played in the qualifiers if fit. If the same applies to Williams, then she’d have to be fit and ready for the week before the main tournament.
Williams doesn’t play the pre-Wimbledon grass tournaments so missing out on those wouldn’t be a problem for her. But she faces an anxious wait now to see just how long this injury will keep her out and whether she will be fit to attempt to win her eight singles title.
The American also revealed that she will remain in Paris to undergo an MRI on Tuesday.
