Williams started her first-round match against Aliaksandra Sasnovich aggressively, but she slipped on the grass court and later fell after injuring her right hamstring.
Serena Williams’s 20th Wimbledon ended shortly after it began. She retired 34 minutes into the first set of her first-round match against Aliaksandra Sasnovich on Tuesday night because of a right hamstring injury. “I was heartbroken to have to withdraw today after injuring my right leg,” Williams wrote in a post on Instagram, adding: “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 poignant to see Williams, one of the great champions in any sport, in pain and in tears on the famous patch of grass where she has often triumphed through the years. She has won seven Wimbledon singles titles, six women’s doubles titles and one mixed doubles title on Centre Court. Tuesday brought her earliest exit in singles at the All England Club. Her coach, Patrick Mouratoglou, said in a text message that the injury was to the “top of the hamstring.” Williams started her match against Sasnovich with her right thigh taped, just as it was during the French Open early this month in Paris. But Williams still began in impressive fashion Tuesday, ripping second-serve returns with ruthless precision to take a 3-1 lead under the closed roof on Centre Court. But while serving in the next game at 15-15, Williams slipped as she changed direction. After losing the point, she stopped for several seconds, staring down at the grass. She went on to lose her serve and then walked gingerly to her chair, where she was examined by a trainer. Williams left the court for treatment and returned several minutes later, limping slightly. She resumed play, but struggled to move as Sasnovich held serve to make the score 3-3. Williams, in obvious distress, began crying at the baseline as she prepared to start her next service game. Unable to push off, she missed her first serve, then put a low-velocity second serve in play and slapped a backhand winner as the crowd roared to encourage her. But on the following point, Williams hit a forehand awkwardly into the net. The next point turned out to be the final one. She tried to shift direction during a baseline rally and cried out in pain as she fell forward onto the grass. Coco Gauff, the rising 17-year-old American, was watching on television in the Wimbledon gym. She said she had to turn away from the screen. “It was hard for me to watch that,” Gauff said. “I’m a big fan of her, even though I’m a competitor now. But she’s the reason why I started to play tennis.
