Veteran Serena Williams has expressed her shock and disappointment after being eliminated 6-4 6-3 by Ukraine's Elina Svitolinain the first round of Wimbledon.
Williams, who has won the coveted single crown at SW19 five times came into the game with heavy strapping on her right knee only to suffer a heavy fall early in the first set. It looked as though she would have to retire injured, but she fought on bravely.
Speaking after the game she spoke about the fall and said: “It was bad luck for me. I can’t believe it happened. I’m still trying to process it.
“What makes this one hard to process is I’ve had so many injuries. I’ve been missing from tour for quite a while. This is not what I want for myself.
“This kind of fall, I didn’t do anything wrong. I just went for the ball. There’s nothing I can really do about it. Those kinds of things are hard to process emotionally, mentally and physically on the court.”
Williams, who first appeared at Wimbledon in 1997 was making her 24th appearance in the Wimbledon single’s draw. The game against Svitolinain was just her sixth this year. She was granted the chance to play at Wimbledon with a wildcard.
“I was literally killing it, then I got killed by the grass. I felt like I was in great form and in great form in the match.
“I’m not sure what I’ve done. I’ll have to investigate it. It was quite painful.
“Afterwards it was very hard to focus on what I was doing,” she said.
