Serena Williams and Venus Williams will not compete at Wimbledon doubles, Serena suffered a knee injury during her singles match on Monday, a first round defeat in her comeback four years later, and did not recover in time, despite the competition extraordinary attempts to delay their match as much as possible.
"I'm heartbroken to have to withdraw from doubles. Coming back to compete again has been a gift, and the opportunity to play alongside Venus once more meant the world to me. I did everything I could but unfortunately my knee just isn't ready to compete", Serena posted, thanking the tournament director Jamie Baker for "giving me every opportunity to recover".
Serena Williams also posted a photo, of the fluid drained from her knee after the match. "The good news is that my knee shouldn't swell or accumulate as much fluid again. The bad news is that, no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't be ready for the doubles".
"Thank you to the fans for your incredible support and for making this comeback so meaningful. All I can say is stay tuned to a city near you..."
Serena and Venus Williams doubles match against Camila Osorio and Solana Sierra was originally scheduled for Friday, but the organisers moved it to Saturday (when the second round had already started) to give her extra time to recover, a decision rarely taken for other players.
