Serena Williams stared at the Centre Court surface as though she had just been betrayed by an old friend. It quickly became apparent that she had. With Williams’ challenge for an eighth Wimbledon title barely underway, an awkward slip on the court that has hosted so many of her greatest triumphs brought a painful and premature end to her latest attempt to match Margaret Court’s record of 24 grand slam titles.
The dismayed Williams, who had arrived on court with her right thigh heavily strapped, did all she could to find a remedy, calling for the trainer before leaving the court to receive treatment. When she returned, however, she was limping noticeably. Her opponent, the 100th-ranked Belarusian Aliaksandra Sasnovich, took full advantage, dusting herself down after a slip of her own on the baseline to level at 3-3.
Meanwhile, Roger Federer was addressing the world’s press about a similar misfortune that had befallen Adrian Mannarino less than an hour earlier. The Frenchman had been leading Federer by two sets to one when he lost his footing in virtually the same spot that would subsequently do for Williams, deep behind the baseline at the royal box end of Centre Court. As his knee twisted beneath him, Mannarino crumpled to the turf, where he remained prone for several minutes.
It was not the gift Mannarino had been looking for on his 33rd birthday, and although he tried valiantly to continue, he was forced to retire a couple of games later with the match level at 6-4, 6-7 (3-7), 6-3, 6-2. “If you see what happened to him, you know how difficult and complicated it can be to move sometimes, so I’m happy that that didn’t happen to me,” observed Federer.
It was not shaping up to be a good day for the Wimbledon groundspeople. Back on Centre Court, a distraught Williams was fighting back tears as the crowd tried desperately to rally her spirits. The great American has answered such calls countless times in her career, but there was to be no inspired act of escapology on this occasion. Her body would not permit it. With the score at 15-15, Williams crumpled to the turf with a cry of anguish. It was over. She left the court to a rapturous ovation.
“I was heartbroken to have to withdraw today after injuring my right leg,” Williams later wrote on social media. “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 today when I walked on – and off – the court meant the world to me.”
It was a desperate blow for Williams, who had started the match confidently on a court where she has contested the final in each of her four previous visits. The quest for a 24th major will not get any easier for the America, who turns 40 in September.
“I’m so sad for Serena, she’s a great champion, but sometimes it happens in tennis,” said Sasnovich in her courtside interview. “All the best to her for the best recovery.”
By now, news of Williams’ fate had filtered through to Federer in the interview room. “Oh, my God, I can’t believe it,” he said. “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.”
That much was apparent in Monday’s opening match between Novak Djokovic and Jack Draper, in which both men struggled to retain their footing.
“I don’t recall falling so many times, it was quite slippery. Whether it’s because the roof is closed or because it rained quite a lot over the last few days, I don’t know,” said Djokovic afterwards. “Maybe I’ll work on my movement and slide a bit less because it doesn’t seem to be working on this surface.”
Federer, 39, was candid in his appraisal of how Mannarino’s injury affected the outcome of a match that could have gone either way as he struggled to establish his customary authority from the back of the court.
“It shows that one shot can change the outcome of a match, a season a career, so I wish him all the best,” said the sixth-seeded Swiss, who will play Richard Gasquet of France in the next round. “I hope he recovers quickly so we can see him back on the courts because, look, he could have won the match at the end. He was the better player. I definitely got a bit lucky.”