Serena Williams’ return to tennis got off to a poor start. The 40-year-old was eliminated from 2022 Wimbledon on Tuesday, losing in three sets to unseeded Harmony Tan.
Williams hasn’t played tennis since she suffered a leg injury at last year’s Wimbledon, and the rust was obvious. She was slower to the ball than usual and missed the type of shots that were automatic for her in the past. But despite this, the American was still quite close to making it to the second round.
After a 5-7 loss in the first set, Williams handled Tan in only seven games in the second. The third set saw Williams serving for the match while having a 5-4 lead. She only needed two more points to take care of business, but it wasn’t meant to be.
Tan bounced back to tie the third set at 5-5 and later secured the win in a 10-7 tiebreak. She is now set to play no. 32-seeded Sara Sorribes Tormo for a chance to advance to the third round and secure her best-ever result at Grand Slam tournaments.
“Today I gave all I could do, you know, today,” said Williams after the match. “Maybe tomorrow I could have gave more. Maybe a week ago I could have gave more. But today was what I could do. At some point you have to be able to be okay with that. And that’s all I can do.”
