Serena Williams has withdrawn from the French Open due to an Achilles injury.
The 23-time Grand Slam winner sustained the injury in the just ended US Open during her semi-final defeat to Belarusian Victoria Azarenka.
The 39-year was set to play her second-round match against Bulgaria’s Tsvetana Pironkova on Wednesday.
“After I warmed up – it was a very short warm-up – I talked to my coach and I was like, “What do you think?”, she said.
“We both thought about it and we really realised that it likely wasn’t the best for me to play today. I love playing in Paris, I really wanted to give an effort here. It’s my achilles which didn’t have enough time to properly heal after the US Open.”
“I was able to get it somewhat better but just looking long-term in this tournament, will I be able to get through enough matches? For me, I don’t think I could. (I’m) struggling to walk so that’s a tell-tale sign that I should try to recover.”
“I think I need four to six weeks of sitting and doing nothing and at least just two weeks of sitting down.”
“After that two weeks I’ve been told I need to do a little training. I don’t know if I’ll be able to play another tournament this year”, Williams concluded.
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