Venus Williams expressed her frustration with the grass surface after a painful fall during her emotional return to Wimbledon, resulting in a defeat against Elina Svitolina on Centre Court.
The 43-year-old tennis legend, who made her debut at SW19 back in 1997, was granted a wildcard entry into this year’s tournament after missing out on the singles draw last year.
Unfortunately, her much-anticipated comeback was cut short on the first day, as she succumbed to a 6-4, 6-3 loss to the Ukrainian opponent. Adding to her disappointment, Williams suffered an injury in the early stages of the match, leading her to remark that she felt “killed by the grass.”
She said: “Grass is inherently going to be slippery. You’re going to fall at some point. It was just bad luck for me.
“I started the match perfectly. I was literally killing it, then I got killed by the grass.
“It’s not fun right now. I felt like I was in great form coming into this tournament, and great form in the match.
“It’s all very shocking at the moment. This is sports. I’m hitting the ball well.
“Hopefully I can just figure out what’s happening with me and move forward.
“I think what makes this one hard to process is I’ve had so many injuries. I’ve been missing from tour for quite a while. This is not what I want for myself.
Appreciation for a great champion.
— Wimbledon (@Wimbledon) July 3, 2023
43-year-old @Venuseswilliams receives a standing ovation as she leaves Centre Court#Wimbledon pic.twitter.com/YkOwxL8M2g
“This kind of fall, I didn’t do anything wrong. I just went for the ball. There’s nothing I can really do about it.
“Those kinds of things are hard to process emotionally, mentally and physically on the court.
“I just couldn’t figure it out today. It was just real challenging. I’ve played through a lot of injuries and won a lot of matches injured.
“It’s almost a specialty of mine. I just couldn’t figure it out today.”
It remains to be seen whether this will be her Wimbledon swansong, as it was for her sister Serena 12 months ago, but time is obviously ticking on one of the all-time great tennis careers.
Williams would not commit on whether she would be fit enough to play at the US Open later this summer.
She added: “I’ve got to figure out my next plan. Right now I’m kind of in shock. I just can’t believe this happened. It’s, like, bizarre. I don’t know. I’m still processing it at the moment.”
Svitolina, who is making a return of her own after missing last year’s tournament following the birth of her first child, proved she is still a top-class player and was not going to let Williams off lightly.
But she admits she was fearing the worst when the veteran was screaming in agony.
She said: “She screamed really loud, I was shaken up. I was really shocked in a way, because I thought it was really, really serious.
“So I was really happy for her actually that she could stand up after and didn’t take a medical timeout. She just was checking how the knee is. And then we continue playing.
“I was really happy, because it’s such a horrible injury, the knee injury. Any injury is bad, but, you know, she screamed really loud. So I really got scared.”