Wimbledon 2023: Venus Williams bows out in first round after being 'killed by the grass'

Venus Williams probably played her final Wimbledon match which she lost to Ukrainian Elina Svitolina 6-4, 6-3 in straight sets in the matchup of wild cards. The 43-year-old, however, wasn't fully fit as she stepped on the court with a strapped right knee.

The veteran star started the game beautifully with a break advantage before she fell on the court in the third game and could never recover from the fall. Williams was down a breakpoint in the third game and was moving to her left to block a backhand volley from Svitolina. Venus, however, slipped and fell as she approached the net and screamed in agony. Both Svitolina and umpire Marija Cicak came down to check on her immediately before Venus stood back up, with some assistance though. Have a look at the fall here:

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"I'm not sure what I've done. I'm going to have to investigate it tomorrow," Williams told the press after the loss. "It's late today. But it was quite painful."

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"Grass is inherently going to be slippery. You're going to fall at some point. It was just bad luck for me. I started the match perfectly. I was literally killing it, then I got killed by the grass," she added further with laughter in the end. Williams needed a medical timeout and had kept rallies short post the fall in order to continue to play.

Svitolina, meanwhile, was happy to get her fifth win at a Grand Slam this season and said that it's always special to play against Venus.

“It’s always a pleasure to play against Venus,” Svitolina said during her on-court interview after the win. “Played her so many times, I think in almost every Slam. It was a really special moment today to play here.”

The 28-year-old has been in decent form since returning from maternity leave in April.

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