Serena Williams Forced to Withdraw from the French Open Due to Injury
Not long after her return to the court after giving birth, Serena Williams announced that she will be pulling out of the French Open due to an injury.
According to The Washington Post, Williams withdrew from her Grand Slam comeback due to a pectoral muscle injury. Williams, who has won 23 Grand Slam singles titles, revealed that she is unable to hit serves due to an issue with her right pectoral muscle. “Yeah, unfortunately I have been having some issues with my [pectoral] muscle, and it has unfortunately been getting worse to the point where right now I can’t actually serve,” she said. “It’s kind of hard to play when I can’t physically serve.”
The distraught tennis star detailed the pain from her unexpected injury. “It was really painful, and I didn’t know what it was,” Williams explained. “I tried a lot of different tapings, and I tried lots of different types of support to see how it would feel under match circumstance. It didn’t really get a lot better.”
As ESPN reports, her coach – Patrick Mouratoglou – said that an ultrasound revealed the injury to her pectoral muscle, however the extent of the injury was not clear.
This minor setback comes after Williams’ fiery comeback from giving birth to her daughter, Alexis Olympia Ohanian Jr. During her withdrawal announcement, Williams talked about having to sacrifice time with her family to train for the Grand Slam.
“I’m beyond disappointed,” Williams said. “I gave up so much, from time with my daughter to time with my family. I put everything on the court, you know, all for this moment. So it’s really difficult to be in this situation, but I always, for now in my life, I just try to think positively and just think of the bigger picture and hopefully the next events and the rest of the year.”
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