Serena Williams’ Wimbledon comeback is unfortunately over before it could ever get off the ground.
Williams announced Saturday that she had to withdraw from her scheduled doubles match with sister Venus due to lingering problems with her knee. On social media, she said the knee “isn’t ready to compete,” and shared photos showing just how hard she tried to get it treated enough to play.
Williams’ match was even pushed back a day to try to give her more time to get the knee healthy, but it simply did not work out.
Williams tweaked her knee near the end of the first set of her singles match against Maya Joint on Tuesday, which she went on to lose in three sets. She suffered the original injury during her initial doubles comeback earlier in June.
Ultimately, Williams did manage to make it through her singles comeback, even after she wavered on whether to do it at all. She has hinted that she will continue to play, though how much and in what format remains to be seen. Much of that likely depends on whether the 44-year-old can stay healthy going forward.
