Serena Williams’ secret whisper after Wimbledon defeat

Serena Williams suffered a disappointing loss during the first round at Wimbledon, but the tennis powerhouse isn’t giving up yet.

The 23-time Grand Slam champion returned to the singles court last week but left empty-handed after suffering a knee injury.

She sustained the injury during a narrow 3-6, 7-6 (6), 6-3 first-round defeat by Maya Joint, who is 24 years younger than her.

It rendered her unfit for doubles, which she was due to play alongside her sister Venus, 46.

Prior to the competition, Serena had only been playing doubles alongside Victoria Mboko at Queen’s and Karolina Muchova in Berlin.

Refusing to give up

But despite Serena’s early loss in the competition, the tennis star has insisted she will not let injury hold her back from playing the sport she loves.

Speaking on Tuesday, Rennae Stubbs, who is one of Serena’s coaches, said she was keen to have her back on court.

“Her intention is to keep playing; the US Open as well,” she said. “As long as physically she can go — and I’m hoping in a few weeks that’s the case — to get her back on the court and hitting balls.”

This year’s competition marked Serena’s first return to a Grand Slam in four years. However, during the match, the mother-of-two tweaked her knee at the end of the first set. Despite the injury, she continued to push the match to a deciding third set after winning a tiebreaker in the second.

She later told her coach that her knee had held her back from performing to her full potential. “She did whisper to me, ‘I would have won if I had a good knee,'” Stubbs said.

“Leading up to the tournament, she was playing practice sets [and] beating players that are still in the tournament. I won’t mention which ones because I don’t want to embarrass them but she was playing well.”

Just hours before her doubles match with Venus was due to begin, Serena revealed in a candid social media post that she was “heartbroken” to have to withdraw from the competition.

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Continuing, she wrote: “Coming back to compete again has been a gift, and the opportunity to play alongside @venuswilliams once more meant the world to me. I did everything I could to be ready, but unfortunately my knee just isn’t ready to compete.”

She thanked tournament director Jamie Baker, the wider team and her fans for their unwavering support. “All I can say is stay tuned to a city near you…,” she added.

© Getty Images

What’s in store

Serena is now focusing on recovering from her injury in preparation for potentially playing as a wild card in US Open warm-up tournaments in Cincinnati and Toronto.  

Her coach said: “I know that for her, trying to play certainly something before the US Open will be something she would like to do.

“But at the same time it’s going to depend on how physically she’s doing.”