Serena Williams’ Australian Open title defence is under a major injury cloud after she retired from her singles match against Australian Jarmila Wolfe at the Hopman Cup on Tuesday evening in Perth.
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The US retired when trailing 7-5, 2-1, having appeared extremely restricted in her movement during the match, particularly on her left side.
“I just have some inflammation that’s been going away very slowly”, she explained.
The world number 38 said she was hoping to avoid an early meeting with the dominant Williams, a 21-time grand slam champion.
She finished 2015 at number 22 and went into the season-opening Brisbane International unseeded.
However, Williams played down the injury and even refused to rule herself out of Thursday’s Hopman Cup tie against the Czech Republic.
Afterward she completely downplayed any notion of an injury, nearly implying that if she wasn’t playing the equivalent of a tennis friendly in the Hopman Cup (it’s an worldwide mixed team tennis event), she could have fought through it.
Gavrilova, ranked 19 places higher than Watson at 36 in the world, fought back and served for the match at 5-3, but the British No 2 showed typical grit to come through.
She had warmed up earlier in the morning at a practise session, but later withdrew from the match as 20-year-old compatriot Vicky Duval emerged as a late replacement.
In Brisbane, Australian Open contenders Maria Sharapova and Simona Halep withdrew from the Brisbane International Tuesday after suffering injuries less than two weeks before the first Grand Slam of the year.
FILE – In this June 4, 2015, file photo, Serena Williams, of the United States, returns a shot in her semifinal match of the French Open tennis tournament against Timea Bacsinszky, of Switzerland, at the Roland Garros stadium in Paris.
The former US Open champion recovered from 0-3 down in the final set to record a 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 victory over Slovakian qualifier Jana Cepelova to begin her always intense Australian summer in positive style.
Williams said she hadn’t made any decisions on further Australian Open preparations.
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“I was kind of nervous because I was filling in big shoes, but I had a really fun time today”, Duval said. The Briton eventually succumbed 6-3, 5-7, 6-3.
