Wimbledon 2021 tennis - Tearful Serena Williams forced to retire with ankle injury against Aliaksandra Sasnovich
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ByEurosport
Updated 29/06/2021 at 19:51 GMT
There was major drama on Centre Court as a tearful Serena Williams was forced to retire from her first round match with Aliaksandra Sasnovich. Watch daily evening highlights of all the best action from Wimbledon on Eurosport 1, plus the men's and women's finals live on Eurosport 2. All coverage is also available to stream via eurosport.co.uk and the Eurosport app.
Serena Williams is out of Wimbledon
Image credit: Getty Images
There was major drama on Centre Court as a tearful Serena Williams was forced to retire from her first round match with Aliaksandra Sasnovich.
The seven-time former champion had already started the match with taping around her right thigh and left ankle, but was at something approaching top form as she blitzed into a 3-1 first set lead.
However, after dropping her serve in the fifth game, she limped towards her chair and summoned for the trainer.
Williams then left the court for treatment.
Following her return, Williams was clearly in major discomfort and broke down in tears as she was unable to move around the court.
At 3-3, Williams collapsed to the grass before signalling that she would be unable to continue.
After waving to the fans, a visibly distraught Williams needed assistance from a medic as she left the court for the second time in a matter of minutes.
It was the second major Centre Court injury of the day following the retirement of Adrian Mannarino at the start of the fifth set against Roger Federer with the match locked at 2 sets apiece.
The Frenchman slipped and fell awkwardly towards the end of the fourth set and despite attempting to continue following treatment, was forced to withdraw.
"It is awful and shows one shot can change the outcome of a match, season, career and I wish him all the best and hope we see him back quickly” Federer said of his opponent.
He later added: "This is obviously terrible that it's back-to-back matches and it hits Serena as well. Oh my God, I can't believe it."
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Watch daily evening highlights on Eurosport 1, plus the men's and women's finals live on Eurosport 2. All coverage is also available to stream via eurosport.co.uk and the Eurosport app
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