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.”

The post Serena Williams Eliminated from the 2022 Wimbledon appeared first on SportzBonanza.

Serena Williams will play at the 2022 Wimbledon as a wild-card entry. Williams received an invite to compete at the tournament alongside five other players who didn’t automatically qualify.

Williams hasn’t played tennis since suffering a leg injury in the first round of 2021 Wimbledon. As a result, she slipped on the WTA rankings and is currently ranked No. 1223 player in the world.

The 40-year-old American has won Wimbledon seven times in the past, with her latest triumph coming in 2016. She made the finals twice at All England Club after that, in 2018 and 2019, but lost to Angelique Kerber and Simona Halep, respectively.

Since her last Wimbledon win, Williams only managed to win one Grand Slam, being triumphant at the 2017 Australian Open. After that, she made four Grand Slam finals but lost in all four. These losses were particularly heartbreaking for Williams as she is just one major title away from tying Margaret Court’s career record of 24.

 The 2022 Wimbledon is set to take place from 27 June to 10 July. Novak Djokovic is the defending champion in men’s singles, while Ash Barty won’t defend her women’s singles title from 2021. Barty announced her retirement from tennis earlier this year, leaving reigning French Open winner and world’s No. 1 Iga Swiatek as the biggest favorite.

The post Serena Williams to Compete at Wimbledon as a Wild-Card appeared first on SportzBonanza.

Serena Williams won’t add another French Open title to her trophy cabinet, at least not in 2018. The 36-year-old announced on Monday that she has pulled out of the tournament due to a chest muscle injury. Williams announced her decision shortly before she was scheduled to play Maria Sharapova in the fourth round.

“It’s extremely disappointing,” – Williams told reporters on Monday. “But also, I made a promise to myself and to my coach and to my team that if I’m not at least 60 percent or 50 percent, then I probably shouldn’t play.“

Williams explained that she will get an MRI and do further tests in order to figure out how severe the injury is and how it will affect her tennis season.

“The fact that I physically can’t serve at all is a good indication that maybe I should just go back to the drawing board and stay positive, and try to get better and not get it to a point where it could be a lot worse.” – she added.

2018 French Open was the first Grand Slam tournament Serena Williams participated in since January 2017, when she won Australian Open. After the tournament, Williams revealed she was already eight-weeks pregnant and took a break from tennis. After giving birth to her daughter in September 2017, she made her return to tennis in late December of the same year, playing an exhibition match in Abu Dhabi.

Serena Williams currently has 23 Grand Slam titles, which represent the most for all tennis players in the modern era. When it comes to all-time ranking, she is second to Margaret Court, who has 24.

The post Serena Williams Withdraws from French Open Due to a Chest Muscle Injury appeared first on SportzBonanza.

The return of Serena Williams to competitive tennis isn’t going as planned so far. After she and her sister Venus suffered a defeat in the first round of Fed Cup, Serena also had an early exit at the Miami Open on Wednesday. The 36-year-old was defeated 6-3, 6-2 in the tournament’s first round by 22nd WTA ranked Naomi Osaka.

The 20-year-old Osaka entered the match fresh from winning her first ATP title at the Indian Wells. After the match against Williams, Osaka said that she was nervous playing her and that she just wanted to avoid being swept by her idol.

“She’s the main reason I started playing tennis,” – said Osaka. “I just wanted her after the match to know who I am. She said ‘good job’ and stuff. I kind of blanked out, but I’m pretty sure she said ‘good job.‘”

Naomi Osaka, who has a 14-4 record this year, will face the fourth-seeded Elina Svitolina in the next round.

This was just the fifth time that Serena Williams was eliminated in the first round of a singles tournament in her career with the last time being at the 2012’s French Open. Williams has won the Miami Open record eight times.

After winning the 2017 Australian Open, Serena Williams revealed that she is expecting a baby and took a break from competitive tennis. She gave birth to a daughter named Alexis Olympia in September 2017. Although it was rumored she will make an appearance at the 2018 edition of Australian Open, Williams decided to skip the tournament, citing a lack of sufficient preparation. Her first competitive tennis match came in February, when she and Venus suffered a 6–2, 6–3 defeat to Lesley Kerkhove and Demi Schuurs in Fed Cup.

The post Serena Williams Defeated by Naomi Osaka In the First Round of Miami Open appeared first on SportzBonanza.

Although everything was set for Serena Williams to make her big competitive comeback at Australian Open, that won’t be the case. After playing an exhibition match against French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko at the Mubadala World Tennis Championship in Abu Dhabi, Williams realized she isn’t ready and needs more time for a full comeback. She lost the match against Ostapenko 2–6, 6-3, [5–10].

“After competing in Abu Dhabi I realized that although I am super close, I’m not where I personally want to be,” – said Williams in a statement. “My coach and team always said ‘only go to tournaments when you are prepared to go all the way.’ I can compete — but I don’t want to just compete, I want to do far better than that and to do so, I will need a little more time. With that being said, and even though I am disappointed about it, I’ve decided not to compete in the Australian Open this year.“

Serena Williams won the Australian Open tournament in 2017 while she was eight weeks pregnant, and then took a break from tennis. In the meantime, she gave birth to a daughter named Alexis Olympia in September 2017 and married Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian two months later.

The 36-year-old is currently sitting behind Australian Margaret Court in most Grand Slam tournament singles titles. Court won 24 titles, while Williams has 23, and she believed that she can get tied with Court at Australian Open 2018. Now, the French Open looks like a more realistic option.

Williams isn’t the only big name that will miss the first Grand Slam of the season. Former world No.1 tennis player Andy Murray also announced that he won’t be able to compete in Melbourne due to a hip injury. Novak Djokovic might not play as well and will make his decision after playing few exhibition matches next week.

The post Serena Williams Won’t Play in Australian Open 2018 appeared first on SportzBonanza.

Serena Williams is set to return to competitive tennis earlier than expected. According to Australian Open director Craig Tiley, Williams will “very likely” compete at the tournament and try to defend the title. Williams won 2017 Australian Open while being pregnant and didn’t compete since. She gave birth to a baby girl in September.

“She’s got her visa, she’s entered, she’s practicing and she’s probably just got to find a bit more space for a bigger entourage.” – said Tiley while speaking with the Herald Sun. “There’s no question that she’ll be ready in our view and she wants to break a record that is Margaret Court’s. It would be a pretty significant accomplishment for her to be able to do that.“

Serena Williams currently has 23 Grand Slam titles in her career, with 7 of them coming at Australian Open. Australia native Margaret Court, on the other hand, has 24.

Although Tiley seems to be confident about Williams participating at Australian Open, her coach Patrick Mouratoglou said that the decision wasn’t made and that Serena will make up her mind after her upcoming training session in Florida.

In case that Serena doesn’t come back in time for Australian Open, she will likely compete at Indian Wells or Miami, with both tournaments taking place in March.

The 2018 Australian Open will take place at 15-28 January 2018 and will be the 106th edition of the tournament. The tournament’s wildcard playoff will start on Monday, giving the players outside the top 100 to win a chance to compete in the tournament.

The post Serena Williams Set to Return to Tennis at the 2018 Australian Open appeared first on SportzBonanza.

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.”

The post Serena Williams Eliminated from the 2022 Wimbledon appeared first on SportzBonanza.

Serena Williams will play at the 2022 Wimbledon as a wild-card entry. Williams received an invite to compete at the tournament alongside five other players who didn’t automatically qualify.

Williams hasn’t played tennis since suffering a leg injury in the first round of 2021 Wimbledon. As a result, she slipped on the WTA rankings and is currently ranked No. 1223 player in the world.

The 40-year-old American has won Wimbledon seven times in the past, with her latest triumph coming in 2016. She made the finals twice at All England Club after that, in 2018 and 2019, but lost to Angelique Kerber and Simona Halep, respectively.

Since her last Wimbledon win, Williams only managed to win one Grand Slam, being triumphant at the 2017 Australian Open. After that, she made four Grand Slam finals but lost in all four. These losses were particularly heartbreaking for Williams as she is just one major title away from tying Margaret Court’s career record of 24.

 The 2022 Wimbledon is set to take place from 27 June to 10 July. Novak Djokovic is the defending champion in men’s singles, while Ash Barty won’t defend her women’s singles title from 2021. Barty announced her retirement from tennis earlier this year, leaving reigning French Open winner and world’s No. 1 Iga Swiatek as the biggest favorite.

The post Serena Williams to Compete at Wimbledon as a Wild-Card appeared first on SportzBonanza.

Serena Williams won’t add another French Open title to her trophy cabinet, at least not in 2018. The 36-year-old announced on Monday that she has pulled out of the tournament due to a chest muscle injury. Williams announced her decision shortly before she was scheduled to play Maria Sharapova in the fourth round.

“It’s extremely disappointing,” – Williams told reporters on Monday. “But also, I made a promise to myself and to my coach and to my team that if I’m not at least 60 percent or 50 percent, then I probably shouldn’t play.“

Williams explained that she will get an MRI and do further tests in order to figure out how severe the injury is and how it will affect her tennis season.

“The fact that I physically can’t serve at all is a good indication that maybe I should just go back to the drawing board and stay positive, and try to get better and not get it to a point where it could be a lot worse.” – she added.

2018 French Open was the first Grand Slam tournament Serena Williams participated in since January 2017, when she won Australian Open. After the tournament, Williams revealed she was already eight-weeks pregnant and took a break from tennis. After giving birth to her daughter in September 2017, she made her return to tennis in late December of the same year, playing an exhibition match in Abu Dhabi.

Serena Williams currently has 23 Grand Slam titles, which represent the most for all tennis players in the modern era. When it comes to all-time ranking, she is second to Margaret Court, who has 24.

The post Serena Williams Withdraws from French Open Due to a Chest Muscle Injury appeared first on SportzBonanza.

The return of Serena Williams to competitive tennis isn’t going as planned so far. After she and her sister Venus suffered a defeat in the first round of Fed Cup, Serena also had an early exit at the Miami Open on Wednesday. The 36-year-old was defeated 6-3, 6-2 in the tournament’s first round by 22nd WTA ranked Naomi Osaka.

The 20-year-old Osaka entered the match fresh from winning her first ATP title at the Indian Wells. After the match against Williams, Osaka said that she was nervous playing her and that she just wanted to avoid being swept by her idol.

“She’s the main reason I started playing tennis,” – said Osaka. “I just wanted her after the match to know who I am. She said ‘good job’ and stuff. I kind of blanked out, but I’m pretty sure she said ‘good job.‘”

Naomi Osaka, who has a 14-4 record this year, will face the fourth-seeded Elina Svitolina in the next round.

This was just the fifth time that Serena Williams was eliminated in the first round of a singles tournament in her career with the last time being at the 2012’s French Open. Williams has won the Miami Open record eight times.

After winning the 2017 Australian Open, Serena Williams revealed that she is expecting a baby and took a break from competitive tennis. She gave birth to a daughter named Alexis Olympia in September 2017. Although it was rumored she will make an appearance at the 2018 edition of Australian Open, Williams decided to skip the tournament, citing a lack of sufficient preparation. Her first competitive tennis match came in February, when she and Venus suffered a 6–2, 6–3 defeat to Lesley Kerkhove and Demi Schuurs in Fed Cup.

The post Serena Williams Defeated by Naomi Osaka In the First Round of Miami Open appeared first on SportzBonanza.

Although everything was set for Serena Williams to make her big competitive comeback at Australian Open, that won’t be the case. After playing an exhibition match against French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko at the Mubadala World Tennis Championship in Abu Dhabi, Williams realized she isn’t ready and needs more time for a full comeback. She lost the match against Ostapenko 2–6, 6-3, [5–10].

“After competing in Abu Dhabi I realized that although I am super close, I’m not where I personally want to be,” – said Williams in a statement. “My coach and team always said ‘only go to tournaments when you are prepared to go all the way.’ I can compete — but I don’t want to just compete, I want to do far better than that and to do so, I will need a little more time. With that being said, and even though I am disappointed about it, I’ve decided not to compete in the Australian Open this year.“

Serena Williams won the Australian Open tournament in 2017 while she was eight weeks pregnant, and then took a break from tennis. In the meantime, she gave birth to a daughter named Alexis Olympia in September 2017 and married Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian two months later.

The 36-year-old is currently sitting behind Australian Margaret Court in most Grand Slam tournament singles titles. Court won 24 titles, while Williams has 23, and she believed that she can get tied with Court at Australian Open 2018. Now, the French Open looks like a more realistic option.

Williams isn’t the only big name that will miss the first Grand Slam of the season. Former world No.1 tennis player Andy Murray also announced that he won’t be able to compete in Melbourne due to a hip injury. Novak Djokovic might not play as well and will make his decision after playing few exhibition matches next week.

The post Serena Williams Won’t Play in Australian Open 2018 appeared first on SportzBonanza.

Serena Williams is set to return to competitive tennis earlier than expected. According to Australian Open director Craig Tiley, Williams will “very likely” compete at the tournament and try to defend the title. Williams won 2017 Australian Open while being pregnant and didn’t compete since. She gave birth to a baby girl in September.

“She’s got her visa, she’s entered, she’s practicing and she’s probably just got to find a bit more space for a bigger entourage.” – said Tiley while speaking with the Herald Sun. “There’s no question that she’ll be ready in our view and she wants to break a record that is Margaret Court’s. It would be a pretty significant accomplishment for her to be able to do that.“

Serena Williams currently has 23 Grand Slam titles in her career, with 7 of them coming at Australian Open. Australia native Margaret Court, on the other hand, has 24.

Although Tiley seems to be confident about Williams participating at Australian Open, her coach Patrick Mouratoglou said that the decision wasn’t made and that Serena will make up her mind after her upcoming training session in Florida.

In case that Serena doesn’t come back in time for Australian Open, she will likely compete at Indian Wells or Miami, with both tournaments taking place in March.

The 2018 Australian Open will take place at 15-28 January 2018 and will be the 106th edition of the tournament. The tournament’s wildcard playoff will start on Monday, giving the players outside the top 100 to win a chance to compete in the tournament.

The post Serena Williams Set to Return to Tennis at the 2018 Australian Open appeared first on SportzBonanza.