By Molly McElwee at Wimbledon
Venus Williams soldiered on after a fall on Centre Court but fumed at the umpire upon losing the match – and potentially ending her Wimbledon career – on a questionable call.
Five-time champion Williams, 43, refused to shake hands with umpire Marija Cicak at the end of her first-round loss, after a hawk-eye challenge ended her Wimbledon campaign.
On match point, her opponent Elina Svitolina’s return was called out as Williams sprayed her shot wide. But a challenge revealed Svitolina’s ball had actually caught the line, and the umpire overturned the decision, calling game, set, match.
Williams laughed incredulously, as she had expected to replay the point, and shook her head at Cicak instead of offering up her hand.
The umpire decided the out call had not impeded Williams’s ability to stay in the point, but it remained a point of contention for the seven-time major champion. “I completely disagreed with the call, it was just that kind of day,” she said through gritted teeth after the match.
As she exited Centre Court – where only her sister Serena has played more ladies’ singles matches this century – the crowd gave her a standing ovation. They were probably just relieved she completed the match, as Williams’s tournament nearly ended in screams of pain and tears, after she slipped at the net and aggravated a knee problem early on.
Williams was 2-0 up in the first set but stumbled when chasing a short ball at the net. She twisted her right knee, which she was already wearing a support brace on, and cried out in pain, collapsing in a heap on the grass. While Williams continued to clutch her knee, Svitolina raced to get her a couple of towels and the umpire jumped down from her chair to console her.
Though Williams recovered and returned to play after a medical timeout, limping to her seat unaided, she looked visibly shaken and admitted afterwards she had played through distracting pain in the 6-4, 6-3 loss.
The fall came immediately after Novak Djokovic’s match on Centre Court, which was delayed by nearly 90 minutes due to the grass being wet by rain. In her press conference, a deflated Williams did not blame the surface for her fall, but said she was still in “shock” about it.
“Grass is inherently going to be slippery,” she said. “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. Hopefully I can just figure out what’s happening with [my knee] and move forward.”
This was her 24th appearance at Wimbledon – a record in singles in the Open era – and came 25 years on from her first visit to the All England Club as a teenager. Her fall felt like a sorry case of deja vu, as it was just two years ago that her sister Serena twisted her ankle on the slick grass and limped out of the tournament after playing just five games. The injury blocked her from playing for nearly a year, ahead of her retirement last September.
When probed about whether she intends to play the US Open in September, Williams was non-committal: “I 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.”
This was only Williams’s fourth match since January, and she has refused to comment on how much longer she expects to play for. She even speculated about continuing on tour past the age of 50 in her pre-tournament press conference.
Asked whether the injury was more difficult to come to terms with, considering she may have few opportunities to play at Wimbledon again, she said: “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.
“I didn’t do anything wrong. I just went for the ball. Those kinds of things are hard to process emotionally, mentally and physically on the court. 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.”
Wimbledon 2023 day one: As it happened
"Exit" - Google News
July 04, 2023 at 02:00AM
https://ift.tt/EG6WVoJ
Wimbledon 2023: Venus Williams snubs umpire after first round exit - The Telegraph
"Exit" - Google News
https://ift.tt/rPK9ZiX
https://ift.tt/yrM0hov
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "Wimbledon 2023: Venus Williams snubs umpire after first round exit - The Telegraph"
Post a Comment