Serena and Venus Williams vowed to return stronger than ever on Monday after their five-year reign at Wimbledon was brought to an abrupt end in the fourth round.
The all-conquering sisters — practically invincible at Wimbledon since 2000 with a staggering nine titles between them — were dumped out in the last 16 after suffering straight-sets defeats.
Defending champion Serena was beaten 6-3, 7-6 (8/6) by French ninth seed Marion Bartoli, while big sister Venus lost 6-2, 6-3 to Bulgaria’s Tsvetana Pironkova for the second year in a row.
Photo: EPA
“This was definitely not our best day. I think we both envisioned seeing this day going a little bit different,” Venus said.
However, the Williams sisters rejected suggestions that their double defeat marked the end of an era after a year in which they have both struggled with lengthy injury lay-offs and health problems.
Former world No. 1 Serena, who had not played for nearly a year before returning in the warm-up event at Eastbourne earlier this month, insisted she still had the desire to return to the top.
Photo: Reuters
“I made an effort to get out here and play a couple of tournaments. I just can’t sit here and be disappointed. For the most part, I can just use this as momentum going forward,” Serena said. “I can only get better and that can potentially be really scary, because I can only go up from here and I can just do so much more. I obviously would have loved to do better, but considering the condition I was in, considering a lot of things, I really feel I did well. I would have been sad being at home watching it on TV, like I’m going to be soon. I just feel like I can do a lot better, which would really suck if I was here thinking: ‘Wow, I played my best and that was the best that I could do.’”
Serena’s defeat will see her world ranking drop to about 180th and she may require a wild-card to compete at the US Open unless she picks up ranking points during the early part of the hard-court season.
Venus, 31, who only returned earlier this month after five months out with a hip injury sustained at the Australian Open, is also confident she will improve by the time the North American hard-court season climaxes at the US Open.
“I look forward to it. I got ready for this tournament so fast. You wouldn’t even believe how quick that happened,” Venus said. “With more time, I think I can definitely play better, more matches. Obviously, I would love to have peaked here, but, you know, I’m moving on. I think I have the opportunity throughout the summer to play more matches and be better, and hopefully avoid moments like this.”
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