Serena Williams caused a major disappointment at the French Open yesterday when she announced that she was withdrawing from her much-anticipated match against Maria Sharapova with injury.
Instead of following Rafael Nadal onto the Court Philippe Chatrier for their fourth round encounter she called a press conference to reveal that she would not be able to play.
On Sunday Williams played a three set doubles match alongside sister Venus which they ended up losing 6-0 in the decider, with signs that there might be some discomfort, especially when serving.
‘Unfortunately I have been having issues with my pec muscle, right now I can’t actually serve,’ she said.
‘The first time I felt it was against (Julia) Goerges (third round), it was really painful. In my doubles yesterday I tried lots of different tapings. It didn’t really get a lot better.’
‘I’m going to get an MRI tomorrow. I won’t know until I get the results. I’m beyond disappointed. I gave up so much, time with my daughter, all for this moment, so it’s really difficult to be in this situation. I always try to think positive.’
Asked whether it was a mistake to play in Sunday’s doubles she replied: ‘I really felt like I needed to play. I wanted to try different strappings to see what’s helping. I sacrificed so much to be here.’