Serena Williams pulled out of Wimbledon on Tuesday night injured just seven games into the tournament.
The 23-time Grand Slam winner, who had begun the match with a heavily strapped thigh, slipped somewhat innocuously when leading 3-1 over Aliaksandra Sasnovich.
The 39-year-old took another tumble in that game and afterwards called the trainer for treatment on her leg.
She returned to court but was clearly hampered and the tearful former world No1 made the decision a few games later to pull out.
Williams had been targeting a first Grand Slam title since winning the 2017 Australian Open while pregnant with her daughter, and a record-equalling 24th Grand Slam singles title.
Her withdrawal after her premature departure at the preceding French Open raises further question marks over her chances of attaining that record, and it is unclear whether the injury will have any impact on her playing in the US Open at the end of August.
Following the incident, Andy Murray tweeted: “Brutal for @serenawilliams but centre court is extremely slippy out there. Not easy to move out there.”
Meanwhile, Roger Federer, whose opponent Adrian Mannarino retired after falling in his match, said: “This is obviously terrible that it’s back-to-back matches and it hits Serena as well. Oh, my God, I can’t believe it.”
