Browsing: Serena Williams

The seven-time singles’ winner at the All England Club slipped in the fifth game and left Centre Court for treatment

The great American has not had a particularly impressive season, losing early at both the Australian Open and Roland Garros, but she remains the biggest star in the women’s game by a distance and would surely have been amongst the favourites to win the gold medal in the Japanese capital.

The world’s No. 3 player sustained the injury in May during the second round of a clay-court tournament in Rome and missed the French Open.

Having come into the tournament with low expectations, Williams had looked solid through her first three matches, and, with big names falling by the wayside, the American surged up the list of title favourites.

But the early departure of seeded players in the women’s tournament continued as third-seeded Aryna Sabalenka was upset by Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the third round.

Williams is aiming to tie the record of 24 grand slam titles currently held by the great Margaret Court.

Nadal, the 20-time Grand Slam champion from Spain, is a two-time Olympic gold medallist, having won the singles event in Beijing and the doubles eight years later at the 2016 Rio Olympics.

The World no. 7 is the highest-ranked player who has withdrawn from Miami so far, joining Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Dominic Thiem and Novak Djokovic on the list of the most notable missing players.

Williams has not won a Major since returning to tennis after the birth of her daughter, although she is still going deep in tournaments.

The mother of one could barely respond before her voice broke and she began crying, leaving the room and ending her press conference.

Williams gave the crowd inside the Rod Laver Arena a long wave goodbye with her hand on her heart following her 6-3 6-4 semi-final defeat by Naomi Osaka.

Williams, the winner of 23 Grand Slam singles titles, had set up a mouth-watering semi-final clash against world number one Australian Ash Barty after defeating fellow American Danielle Collins 6-2 4-6 (10-6) on Margaret Court Arena.

The players did something different by soaking up their freedom after 14 days of quarantine ahead of the Australian Open.

Tournament Director Craig Tiley also assured that the safety of players and their staff is top priority, vowing a “happy slam” amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The 39-year-old Williams, a three-time winner at Roland Garros, had arrived in Paris carrying an Achilles injury that prompted her to skip the Rome tune-up event.

The American, who turned 39 this week, had been due to play Bulgarian Tsvetana Pironkova in the second round later.

The American’s bid for a record-equalling 24th Grand Slam singles title ended with a defeat to Victoria Azarenka at Flushing Meadows on Thursday, a match in which she took a medical timeout to have her left ankle re-taped due to the Achilles problem.

She has to resume her pursuit of a record-equalling 24th Grand Slam title on the claycourts at the French Open.

Williams looked supreme in the first set as a US Open final rematch against Naomi Osaka beckoned but Azarenka fought back superbly to win 1-6 6-3 6-3.

The 23-times Grand Slam winner came up short in the second set tie-break, with her power serve abandoning her when she needed it most