WIMBLEDON, England — As Venus Williams entered Centre Court for her 24th Wimbledon appearance at age 43, greeted by a standing ovation, she held a green exercise band overhead with both hands and stretched it while striding to her sideline seat.
Once her first-round match against Elina Svitolina began, Williams played like a throwback version of herself. Those big serves. Those crisp strokes. Quickly, she was a point from a 3-0 lead on Monday.
And then, moving forward to attempt a volley, Williams slipped on the green grass. Her right foot gave way. She collapsed to the ground. She shrieked and clutched at her right knee, which already was covered by a beige sleeve. Williams twice was treated by a trainer — including getting that knee taped up during a medical timeout after the first set — and although the American kept playing, she could not manage to overcome 2019 Wimbledon semifinalist Svitolina in a 6-4, 6-3 defeat.
“I’m not sure what I’ve done. I’m going to have to investigate it tomorrow. It’s late today. But it was quite painful,” Williams said. “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. And then I got killed by the grass.”
Williams, a former No. 1 now ranked outside the top 500 after a series of injuries that limited her to 22 matches since the start of 2021, was the oldest player in this year’s field and the fourth oldest to compete in the main draw at Wimbledon.
“Right now, I’m kind of in shock. I can’t believe this happened. It’s bizarre. I’m still processing it at the moment,” Williams said at her news conference, more than an hour after the match ended. “What makes this one hard to process is that I’ve had so many injuries. … This is not what I want for myself.”
Svitolina was only 2 when Williams made her Wimbledon debut in 1997 and just 5 when Williams won the event for the first time in 2000.
“It’s always a pleasure to play against Venus,” Svitolina said, calling her opponent a “big legend.”
Williams also captured the titles at the All England Club in 2001, 2005, 2007 and 2008, too, along with a pair of US Open trophies in singles — plus 14 in women’s doubles with her younger sister, Serena, who retired after last season.
The older Williams also was the runner-up at Wimbledon four times, most recently during a resurgent 2017, a season in which she reached a total of two finals and another semifinal at…
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