American tennis star Serena Williams on Tuesday was forced to retire during her opening match of the ongoing Wimbledon tournament.
The seven-time singles Wimbledon champion sustained an injury during her first-round match against Aliaksandra Sasnovich of Belarus. In just the fourth game, Serena slipped on the grass and had to leave the court to receive treatment to her left ankle. She tried to carry on but retired at 3-3 after 34 minutes of play.
We’re heartbroken for you, Serena.
Our seven-time singles champion is forced to retire from The Championships 2021 through injury#Wimbledon pic.twitter.com/vpcW1UN78s
— Wimbledon (@Wimbledon) June 29, 2021
The 23-time Grand Slam champion was leading the Belarusian by a break in the first set at 3-1, serving at 15-15, before she slipped briefly at the back of the court.
Earlier in the day, Swiss tennis maestro Roger Federer survived a scare in his opening match.
The game 6-4, 6-7(3), 3-6, 6-2 was at level with Federer winning the fourth set but Mannarino retired just at the start of the fifth essay and Swiss tennis maestro got a walkover.
In the first set Federer came out with flying colours but Mannarino levelled up against the star player after a dominant second set tie-break.
Federer staged a comeback against Adrian Mannarino to level the game before the French tennis player was forced to retire.
Mannarino stunned Federer in the third set when he won an easy game but the Grand Slam champion won the fourth set to stage a comeback and was finally given a walkover as he reached the second round of the tournament.
(With ANI Inputs)