Serena Williams has been forced to withdraw from her planned Wimbledon doubles partnership with sister Venus due to a knee injury, ending what had already been an emotionally charged return to the All England Club in bittersweet fashion.
The 44-year-old, a 23-time Grand Slam singles champion, had suffered the injury during her first-round singles defeat to Australia's Maya Joint on Tuesday. Despite showing few visible signs of distress during the three-set loss, never once requesting on-court treatment, her knee reportedly swelled rapidly once she left the court. Photos she later shared on Instagram showed heavy bandaging on her left knee alongside syringes used to drain fluid from the area.
The pair, who have claimed six doubles titles together at Wimbledon, had been scheduled to face Colombia's Camila Osorio and Argentina's Solana Sierra. Organisers had kept Saturday's schedule deliberately flexible, adding the match to the order of play on Friday and granting Serena as much time as possible to assess her fitness. She was due to practise at 4pm but announced her withdrawal just fifteen minutes beforehand.
"I'm heartbroken to have to withdraw," Serena wrote, calling the chance to play alongside Venus again something that "meant the world" to her. The announcement cast a noticeable shadow of sadness over the SW19 grounds.
Looking ahead, analysts believe the knee need not derail Serena's broader comeback entirely. Her singles performance against Joint showed flashes of the unmistakable talent that defined her career, and the North American hard-court swing, potentially including the US Open, remains a realistic target if fitness allows.
TennisDraw users had widely backed a Williams sisters run deep into the doubles draw, making the withdrawal one of the week's most talked-about bracket busts.