Reaction: Serena Williams withdraws from French Open due to injury
She was due to play in the second round against Bulgarian veteran Tsvetana Pironkova, but Williams has now been forced to pull out after failing to recover sufficiently from an Achilles problem sustained at the US Open.
This day four retirement means that the American player will not equal Margaret Court’s all-time record of 24 Grand Slam titles at this tournament.
Williams realised she would be unable to compete after a taking to the court for her warm-up
Williams managed a first-round victory against Kristie Ahn, winning 7-6 (7-2) 6-0, but she realised she would be unable to compete after a taking to the court for her warm-up.
She said: “After I warmed up – it was a very short warm-up – I talked to my coach and I was like, ‘What do you think?’
“We both thought about it and we really realised that it likely wasn’t the best for me to play today.
“I love playing in Paris, I really wanted to give an effort here. My Achilles didn’t have time to properly heal. I’m struggling to walk so that’s kind of a tell-tale sign that I should try to recover.”
Williams anticipates that her rehabilitation will likely rule for out of contention for further tennis in 2020.
She said: “I think I need four to six weeks of sitting and doing nothing. I’m definitely going to take that first two weeks of doing nothing and then I will start doing a little training.
“Doing the math on that, I don’t know if I’ll be able to play another tournament this year. It will give me a lot of time to fully recover for the future.”
It was always unlikely that Serena Williams would win her 24th Grand Slam, and sit alongside Margaret Court in the record books, at the 2020 French Open. Although she has won there three times before, taking the title in 2002, 2013 and 2015, it is by far her weakest tournament, and the bookies favoured many of the younger players.
Although there is anticipation for Williams every time she enters a Grand Slam tournament, her last win was in 2017 – she just doesn’t dominate like she used to, particularly in a very strong women’s field.
Her age will make it difficult for Williams. When she returns next year, Williams will be 40, and thus more prone to injury – last year, she struggled with knee and back problems, and that will only get worse. The oldest ever Grand Slam winner was Ken Rosewall, who was 37 when he won the 1972 Australian Open – the age cut-off does exist, and it’s very close for the American champion.
The likelihood of Williams winning in Paris was small anyway
Speaking after her withdrawal, Williams said: “I feel like my body is willing. This is not a nagging injury. This is an acute injury. I just ran into, for lack of a better word, bad timing and bad luck in New York.” And she also said that being “so close” to the all-time record is “what keeps me going”, but she’s also aware of the reality. Last year, after her Wimbledon defeat, Williams said: “No matter which way you look at it, [Federer and I are] not going to be out here in the next three, four, five years.”
This withdrawal will upset Williams, because it’s another chance to equal Court’s record that has slipped away. But, in all honesty, the likelihood of Williams winning in Paris was small anyway, and rest will do her good.
Let’s not sugar-coat reality, though – the next few years will mark the end of Williams’ Grand Slam career and, with her age and the strength of the women’s field working against her, it looks increasingly improbable that she’ll have a final victory to cap it off.
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