American professional tennis player, Serena Williams, has announced her withdrawal from the French Open on Monday with an injury just minutes before her scheduled fourth-round clash against long-time bitter rival and fellow Grand Slam icon Maria Sharapova.

The 36-year-old said she had suffered a pectoral muscle injury in her third-round win over Julia Goerges and “can’t serve at all”.

The 23-time Grand Slam champion added that she would stay in Paris for scans on the injury to find out how long she will be out of action.

“I, unfortunately, have been having some issues with my pec, my pec muscle, and (it) has unfortunately been getting worse to the point where right now I can’t actually serve. It’s kind of hard to play when I can’t physically serve,” she explained.

She was unable to say whether or not she would be fit for Wimbledon which gets underway in four weeks’ time.

“I’m beyond disappointed,” added three-time Roland Garros champion Williams who was playing in her first Grand Slam since winning the 2017 Australian Open.

She was also playing just her third tournament of the year after giving birth to daughter Olympia in September.

“I gave up so much time with my daughter and time with my family all for this moment. So it’s really difficult to be in this situation.”

She also took to her Instagram page and wrote,

“You always live to fight for another chance. I’ve done a lot of fighting and this is just the beginning. Thank you a for the support. I love you.”

The shock withdrawal came just minutes before she was due on Court Philippe Chatrier to face fierce rival Sharapova.

Williams has not lost to the Russian since 2004, winning the last 18 matches.

It had been the most eagerly-awaited match of the tournament, coming just two days after Williams had blasted Sharapova’s autobiography for being “100 percent hearsay” when it came to references about her.

 

However, her status for Wimbledon where she has been champion seven times will only become clear once she has had an MRI. Serena said,

“I made a promise that if I’m not at least 60 percent or 50 percent, then I probably shouldn’t play.” 

“The fact that I physically can’t serve at all is a good indication that maybe I should just go back to the drawing board and stay positive and try to get better and not get it to a point where it could be a lot worse.”

AFP