Serena Williams has surely played her last singles match at Wimbledon after crashing out of this year’s Championships in the first round.
The 40-year-old seven-times winner was making a remarkable Grand Slam comeback after a year out with injury but was beaten in three sets by Harmony Tan.
It was a valiant effort from one of Wimbledon’s greatest-ever champions but she was clearly struggling to cope with the physical demands after such a long time off.
Twelve months ago, Williams - 23 times a Grand Slam winner - limped away in tears and tennis fans thought that could signal the end of her record-breaking career.
But she was determined to return to her spiritual home and received a rapturous welcome from Centre Court.
Yet it was soon clear that, unsurprisingly, the physical demands would prove testing for the all-time great and the lowly-ranked Tan’s mobility helped her to clinch the first set.
But the indomitable spirit that has taken Williams to so much success over the past two and a half decades saw her race to a 6-1 second set win.
And when she took an early lead in the third, it looked as though she would end Tan’s resistance.
But tiredness took a grip and the French player, 16 years Williams’ junior, fought back and defied a crowd firmly on Serena’s side to take the deciding set on a dramatic tie-break.
Williams cut a sad figure at the end and, no matter what she might say, it seems unlikely she will play in the singles draw again.
