On today’s Social Slice, the tennis world reacts to Serena Williams being forced to withdraw from Wimbledon 2021 due to an injury.Williams was continuing her quest to tie Margaret Court’s record of 24 Grand Slam titles, but was stopped at the first hurdle in unfortunate circumstances.
The sixth seed slipped and suffered an injury in the fifth game of her first round match with Aliaksandra Sasnovich, before retiring with the score at 3-3.
Two-time Wimbledon champion Andy Murray – who made a winning singles return to the All England Club yesterday – has commented on the Centre Court surface
Brutal for @serenawilliams but centre court is extremely slippy out there. Not easy to move out there.
Eight-time winner Roger Federer advanced to the second round earlier after his opponent Adrian Mannarino was forced to retire – also after slipping on Centre Court.
The Frenchman was leading Federer by 2-1 in sets and was 4-2 down in the fourth when he lost his footing and sustained a knee injury. He retired with the contest locked at two sets apiece.
Federer also discussed the grass in his post-match press conference, and was taken aback by the news of Williams’ unlucky exit.
“It feels a tad more slippery under the roof. I don’t know if it’s just a gut feeling and you do have to move very, very carefully out there.” 👇@rogerfederer | #Wimbledonpic.twitter.com/ZT1dp5lPrb
World No. 100 Sasnovich revealed that she also found the court to be slippery during the match.
The Belarusian said in her press conference that she “couldn’t run” for shots hit at an angle by Williams.
Serena’s opponent Aliaksandra Sasnovich said that the Centre Court was so slippery that she wasn’t running for shots like normal.
“It was very slippery–I fell as well. When she did an angle, I couldn’t run, because it was so slippery.”#Wimbledon— Ben Rothenberg (@BenRothenberg) June 29, 2021
Wimbledon legend Billie Jean King expressed her hope that the American is able to return to compete soon.
Saddened to see Serena’s Wimbledon end with an injury.
