Injured Serena forced to withdraw from French Open

SERENA William’s quest for her 24th Grand Slam title ended prematurely on Wednesday after she withdrew from the French Open ahead of her second-round match against Tsvetana Pironkova due to an Achilles injury.

The 23-time Grand Slam champion was scheduled to meet Pironkova on Court Philippe-Chatrier on Wednesday morning but pulled out ahead of the contest.

Williams had been managing an Achilles problem that she sustained at the US Open and defeated fellow American Kristie Ahn 7-6 (7-2) 6-0 in the first-round.
The 39-year-old took to court for her warm-up but quickly realised that she would not be able to compete.

“After I warmed up – it was a very short warm-up – I talked to my coach and I was like, ‘What do you think?’,” she said.

“We both thought about it and we really realised that it likely wasn’t the best for me to play today.

“I love playing in Paris, I really wanted to give an effort here. My Achilles didn’t have time to properly heal. I’m struggling to walk so that’s kind of a tell-tale sign that I should try to recover.”