The American duo was the No. 1 seed in Rio after their 14th Grand Slam championship at Wimbledon just over a month ago. “I wasn’t playing the way I needed to play, I wasn’t crossing the way I needed to cross, it was what it was”.
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Strycova replaced Karolina Pliskova, who withdrew because of Zika concerns. If it is indeed the end, her Olympic career concludes with four gold medals, including women’s singles gold in 2000 and the three golds she won alongside Serena in doubles. Fernandez added that Williams had cramping, dehydration and an upset stomach after her loss, but still hoped to play doubles Sunday with younger sister Serena. It was their first ever loss in an Olympic doubles match.
Still, Strycova said: “We’re good friends, and we know each other’s games”.
Del Potro, a former US Open champion ranked 145 in the world after an injury-hit few years, stunned the Serb with a powerful display to win 7-6 (4), 7-6 (2) in the biggest upset in the tennis tournament. Safarova has won two Grand Slam doubles titles with American Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Strycova is a fine doubles player with multiple Grand Slam quarterfinal and semifinal appearances.
Venus had a particularly bad day considering she also lost her singles match against Belgium’s Kirsten Flipkens by a score of 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (5).
With the US Secretary of State John Kerry watching from a second-row seat behind a baseline, the fifth-seeded Williams wasted a 4-1 lead in the final set and was broken while serving for the victory at 5-3.
Williams was not originally expected to enter the event but lost in the first round in both singles and doubles, teaming with sister Serena.
“We played awful and it showed in the results”, said Serena, who had earlier advanced to the second round of the singles competition. “We like to play into the tournament but we played a tough team”, she said. “She was hitting awesome winners, returns”. She’s now won 19 of her past 20 matches.
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Some players said conditions were tricky due to soaring temperatures and a strong breeze drifting across from the ocean. But nonetheless, Serena shares the same fate with her sister the first time in years, Daily Mail reported.
