(Provided by Tennis World USA)
Venus Williams said she “got killed by the grass” after slipping on the surface and sustaining an injury after which she didn’t look the same. On Monday, Williams made a perfect start to her Wimbledon first-round match against Elina Svitolina as she had an early 2-0 lead.
But then in the third game, Williams slipped on the grass and started screaming in pain. After getting her right knee tapped, Williams continued the match but her level significantly dropped as Svitolina claimed a 6-4 6-3 win.
After the match, Williams revealed she couldn’t focus properly on the match due to pain and admitted it was hard for her to process the brutal luck that happened to her in her Wimbledon opener.
Williams after the Svitolina loss: I got killed by the grass
“Grass is inherently going to be slippery.
You’re going to fall at some point. It was just bad luck for me. I started the match perfectly. I was literally killing it, then I got killed by the grass. It’s not fun right now. I felt like I was in great form coming into this tournament, and great form in the match.
It’s all very shocking at the moment. This is sports. I’m hitting the ball well. Hopefully I can just figure out what’s happening with me and move forward. I think what makes this one hard to process is I’ve had so many injuries.
I’ve been missing from tour for quite a while. This is not what I want for myself. This kind of fall, I didn’t do anything wrong. I just went for the ball. There’s nothing I can really do about it. Those kinds of things are hard to process emotionally, mentally and physically on the court.
I just couldn’t figure it out today. It was just real challenging. I’ve played through a lot of injuries and won a lot of matches injured. It’s almost a specialty of mine. I just couldn’t figure it out today,” Williams said after the match.Also in her press conference, Williams revealed she will take some time before deciding her next plans and moves.
