Serena Williams withdrew from the French Open Wednesday because of a lingering left Achilles’ tendon injury.
Williams made the announcement ahead of her second-round match against Tsvetana Pironkova.
“I really wanted to give an effort here. It’s my Achilles that didn’t have enough time to properly heal after the [US] Open,” Williams told reporters at a news conference. “I was able to get it somewhat better, but just looking long term in this tournament — will I be able to get through enough matches? For me, I don’t think I could. Struggling to walk, so that’s kind of a telltale sign I should try to recover.”
Williams made the decision following a short warm-up.
“I warmed up, It was a very short warm-up, and then afterwards I talked to my coach and I was like, ‘What do you think? What are your thoughts with this?’ We both thought about it, and we realized that it more than likely wasn’t the best for me to try to play today,” Williams said.
Pironkova will now go straight through to the third round.
“Definitely in the second set (of the first-round match) I felt like I needed to walk with a limp and that was no good,” said the three-time French Open champion. “I had to focus on walking straight so I wasn’t limping. I tried — I always give 100% and everyone knows that — maybe even more than 100% if that’s possible. I take solace in that. I think Achilles is a real injury that you don’t want to play with because that is not good if it gets worse. I think it’s one of the worst.”
