Serena and Venus Williams withdraw from Wimbledon doubles

THE ALL ENGLAND CLUB, London — Serena Williams’ Wimbledon comeback is officially over.

Williams and her sister Venus pulled out of the women’s doubles tournament Saturday ahead of their first-round match, days after Williams made her return to Grand Slam tennis as a singles wild card with a 3-6, 7-6(6), 3-6 loss to 20-year-old Aussie Maya Joint in the first round.

The day after that match, Williams, 44, said she’d tweaked her knee in the first set and was doing everything she could to return to the doubles court with Venus, 46. Over the weekend, she wrote in a social media post:

“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 to be ready, but unfortunately my knee just isn’t ready to compete.

“I’m especially grateful to tournament director, Jamie Baker, and the entire tournament team for giving me every opportunity to play here. 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…”

The pair have won six Wimbledon doubles titles together, and the tournament delayed their first-round match against Camila Osorio of Colombia and Solana Sierra of Argentina as late as possible, leaving it unscheduled as late as Saturday morning.

Though Williams’ movement appeared uninhibited throughout Tuesday’s match, an injury doesn’t come as a complete surprise. She hadn’t played a singles match in nearly four years, since she announced she was “evolving” away from tennis ahead of the 2022 U.S. Open.

Grass is a particularly tricky surface to play after such a long layoff, even for a seven-time Wimbledon champion, because of how slick it is particularly in the early days of the tournament when the grass is freshest. Players have been taking dramatic tumbles all week.

“I’m incredibly thankful for the wild card – and even more grateful my daughters got to see that it’s never too late to chase something you love,” Williams wrote in a social media post earlier this week after her loss to Joint.

Their doubles withdrawal marks the end of Wimbledon for both sisters. Venus and Germany’s Kevin Krawietz entered the mixed doubles tournament as a wild card pairing but lost their match Friday against Great Britain’s Lloyd Glasspool and Slovakia’s Tereza Mihalikova, the No. 7 seeds.

Venus plans to play on this summer in both Toronto and Washington, D.C. as a wild card. Where Williams heads next in her return to tennis is unknown. She has not yet announced any plans for future tournaments as the tour turns to the U.S. hard-court swing, leading into the U.S. Open in New York City.

This article originally appeared in The Athletic.

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