The 23-time Grand Slam winner who had recently returned to tennis after giving birth to her first child, called a press conference today to talk about her decision.
Her statement: “I’ve had issues with the right pectoral muscle to the point where I can’t serve. The first time I felt it was against Goerges in my last match. I was like, oh my. It was really painful, and I didn’t know what it was. In my doubles, I tried a lot of different tapings and different types of support to see how it would feel under match circumstance, and it didn’t get a lot better.
“I’m going to stay here and see as many specialists as I can. There are a lot of theories. I’ve never had this before. I’ve never felt this in my life, this is so painful. So I don’t really know how to manage it yet. When you do have an injury you’ve had before you can kind of manage it, but this is a little different.
“I’m clueless as to what to do. So I’m just going to do what the doctors think I should do, and get all the evaluations on it. I’ll have a scan. I won’t know about Wimbledon until I get the results.
“It’s very difficult. I love playing Maria. I’ve made every sacrifice I could. I made a commitment to myself and my team that if I wasn’t at least 60% I wouldn’t play. I’ve never felt this in my life. It’s so painful.”
Serena Williams who was formerly World’s No 1 who has fallen to 453rd in the world ranking, after taking time out to have a baby was aiming at fighting her way back to the top.
Guardian
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