Serena Williams finally made her return to Wimbledon after retiring midway in the first-round match. However, she lost a hard-fought battle against Harmony Tan, who fought toe-to-toe with Serena for every single point. At the end of the match, the score read 7-5, 1-6, 7-6 (10-7) and Serena was out of the tournament.
“Today was what I could do. At some point you have to be OK with that.”
Serena Williams gave what she could in her #Wimbledon return; in a 3:10 loss to Harmony Tan, she also gave fans a reminder of the theater only she can produce.
From @SteveTignor: https://t.co/BZef0d4bmd
— TENNIS (@Tennis) June 29, 2022
During the post-match conference, Serena accepted that she was disappointed with the result but gave all she had to beat Harmony. Moreover, she said, “Today I gave all I could—you know, today. Maybe tomorrow I could have gave more. Maybe a week ago I could have gave more. But today was what I could do.”
The match saw Serena slowly coming back to her own self after losing the first set 7-5. She had the opportunity to win the match but Harmony fought aggressively to break her serve at multiple points in the game. The match ultimately lasted for 3 hours and 10 minutes and was the most entertaining match of the day.
Serena Williams addresses rumors of retirement after Wimbledon loss
The 40-year-old played her first singles match in a year and it was going to be tough to play a 3-hour match. However, Serena revealed she was doing fine physically until the last few points of the tiebreak. She said, “Physically I was fine. Last couple points I really started to feel it. But I’m moving well, I’m getting a lot of balls back. I’m moving well in practice, as well.”
Serena’s first-round loss at Wimbledon immediately led to speculations of her retirement. Many felt the match was probably the last singles match of her career. During the post-match interview, one of the journalists asked Serena if she was drawing the curtain on her singles career.
To this, the 23-time grand slam winner replied, “That’s a question I can’t answer. I feel like, you know, I don’t know. Who knows where I’ll pop up?” The die-hard Serena fans certainly don’t want her to retire just yet. It looks like Serena would continue to play as long as there is no risk of injury.