Serena Williams suffered a right knee injury in her first-round loss to Maya Joint at Wimbledon. After tweaking it late in the first set, she managed to finish the match, and she left the All England Club unassisted. A report from The Times claimed that crutches were brought to her locker room but were not used by the 23-time Grand Slam champion.
Strangely, she skipped the mandatory post-match conference. This invited criticism from fans and analysts alike.
Williams’ agent Jill Smoller explained why she was excused from her mandatory media obligations at Wimbledon:
“Serena tweaked her knee at the end of the first set and was therefore excused from her media obligations by the Wimbledon and WTA medical teams. She left site that night unaided and is doing everything she can to be ready for her doubles match.”
It seems Wimbledon officials granted her a medical exemption. Therefore, the American star was not fined for skipping media obligations.
However, fans are not buying Williams’ decision to skip the post-match press conference.
“This is just an excuse, Jose!!” one fan wrote.
“Quality work from the agent there lol. Wonder why she didn’t tell everyone that yesterday,” another commented.
“I see nothing in this that would prevent attendance at the presser,” one fan added.
“First woman in history to speak through her knee,” one fan joked.
“‘Tweaked knee’ end of 1st set, able to get through two more sets then stride off court like a defeated veteran- and bunk off the presser?!” one fan added.
“Aw, what a shame! Sounds like the excuse a sore loser makes,” one fan commented.
“That’s the best excuse for her rudeness and petulance they can come up with?” one fan questioned.
Serena Williams Uncertain To Play Doubles With Venus Williams
Serena Williams is scheduled to play doubles with her sister, Venus Williams, later this week, but the latest knee injury has rendered her day-to-day for now. The Williams sisters are supposed to play Solana Sierra and Camila Osorio in the opening round.
For the first time since the 2022 US Open, Williams made her highly anticipated tennis return in doubles action with Canadian teenager Victoria Mboko at the WTA event at Queen’s Club last month. The pair advanced to the quarterfinals, but Mboko’s knee injury during singles action forced them out.
Williams paired with Karolina Muchova in the Berlin Open. They suffered a straight-sets defeat in their first match.
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