Serena Williams sustained a knee injury during her first round match against Aliaksandra Sasnovich of Belarus at Wimbledon 2021 on Tuesday. Williams, a twenty-three time Grand Slam champion, slipped on the wet grass court at the All England Club in the first set of her match against Sasnovich. She attempted to play through the injury, but could not reach returns and broke into tears when she tried to serve. She later fell for a second time, waved to the crowd and walked off the court. Williams is a seven-time Wimbledon singles champion.
Women’s No. 1 Ash Barty advanced, beating Spain’s Carla Suarez Navarro 6-1, 6-7, 6-1 in 1 hour, 44 minutes.“She is a hell of a competitor and a hell of a fighter,” Barty told reporters, when asked about Suarez Navarro. “It was a privilege to share the court with her today.” Barty will face Russian Anna Blinkova or Hungarian Timea Babos in the second round.
Men’s No. 8 Roger Federer advanced, as well as No. 2 Daniil Medvedev, No. 6 Alexander Zverev of Germany and No. 12 Denis Shapovalov of Canada. Federer said he was “lucky” to advance out of the first round against opponent Adrian Mannarino of France. Federer and Mannarino were tied at two sets apiece when Mannarino retired in the fifth set due to what appeared to be a knee injury. “I wish him all the best and I hope he recovers quickly so we see him back on the court,” Federer said in his on-court interview. “He could have won the match at the end obviously. He was the better player. I definitely got a bit lucky.” Federer, a 20-time Grand Slam champion, will face France’s Richard Gasquet in the second round.
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