Credit: Unsplash

A leg injury has ended Williams’ time at Wimbledon.

During her first-round Wimbledon match against Aliaksandra Sasnovich on Tuesday, tennis star Serena Williams took a hard fall after a sudden slip, hitting her forehand and right leg. She took a brief medical time out and attempted to continue the game, but when she dropped to her knees, face contorted in pain, the chair umpire made the call that she couldn’t continue. The match was awarded to Sasnovich, and Williams, holding back tears, left the court, backed by words of support from her fans in the stands.

While Williams declined to comment on the incident to the media at the time, she wrote about her feelings on the injury on her Instagram. “I was heartbroken to have to withdraw today after injuring my right leg,” she wrote. “My love and gratitude are with the fans and the team who make being on centre court so meaningful. Feeling the extraordinary warmth and support of the crowd today when I walked on — and off — the court meant the world to me.”

Multiple tennis pros weighed in on the injury and offered words of support to Williams with ESPN.

Serena Williams retires with injury from her Round 1 match at #Wimbledon

Get well soon, Serena. 💔pic.twitter.com/Y9ex4N8L3P

— US Open Tennis (@usopen) June 29, 2021

“Of course I’m so sad for Serena; she’s a great champion,” Sasnovich said. “It happens sometimes in tennis, but all the best for her and her recovery.”

“Yeah, it was not easy to watch,” said Coco Gauff. “Actually I turned away. I was in the gym actually stretching. I turned away because stuff like that makes me … really emotional.

“I mean, I wish [Serena] the best. I wish that hopefully she can have a speedy recovery. Yeah, you could tell she was really emotional. Nobody ever wants to retire, but especially at a Grand Slam, a place as special as Wimbledon after waiting two years to come back. The only thing I can do is wish her well wishes and hope she’ll be back in time for the hard court season.”

“I do feel it feels a tad more slippery maybe under the roof,” Roger Federer said. “I don’t know if it’s just a gut feeling. You do have to move very, very carefully out there. If you push too hard in the wrong moments, you do go down.

“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.”