Serena Williams’ coach blames knee injury for stunning U.S. Open defeat

Serena Williams shockingly crashed out of the U.S. Open on Thursday, and her coach is blaming a health issue for the defeat.

Williams lost 6-2, 7-6 (7-5) to No. 10 seed Karolina Pliskova in the semifinal at Flushing Meadows. The defeat means she will lose her No. 1 WTA ranking for the first time since February 2013.

Williams’s coach, Patrick Mouratoglou, placed the blame for the defeat squarely on a knee injury Williams suffered during her quarterfinal battle with Simona Halep.

“It was quite clear,” Mouratoglou said, via Marc Berman of the New York Post. “I don’t remember her moving so slow ever. I can’t say anything too much [about Pliskova] after [Serena] playing like this. I have to see her when Serena is able to challenge her and I’ll tell you how good she is. I don’t know.”

Williams herself refused to take anything away from Pliskova, but admitted that her knee was a significant issue both physically and mentally.

“I wasn’t able to move the way I wanted to move,” Williams said. “When you’re injured, you’re thinking of other things when you should just be playing and thinking of your shots. My mind was just a little bit everywhere. Like I was making errors I never make. I just blame that on thinking about my leg and just not thinking about the shot.”

It’s been a bad few weeks for Williams, who suffered a surprisingly early exit from the Rio Olympics as well. Having won only one of the year’s four major tournaments, there is no doubt Williams will be less than satisfied with how her 2016 has gone.